The Portland daily press., 1898-08-26
sARDINE@ FISHING AN D CANNING.
Curious Fe atures-No One Ever Saw
Live Sardine Out of Water-A Hint t.
Gourmets.

From the Courier deS EtatS UnlS. 4,
The peddlers in the streets of Paris are
now crying out, "Sardines de Nantes r
and the grocers display the little vanished
boxes labelled "Sardines lhuile, fabri.
cation 1885," But where do the sardines
come fir om9 Certainly not from Nantes.
They come from Quiberon, Douarnenez,
Concarneau, Croisic, and especially from
Belle Isle
The sardine fishing season commences
at the beginning of June. As soon the
fishermen If the coast of Brittany notice
shoals of porpoises or f1ocks Of sea gulls
off shore in great numbers they imme-
diately make sail, for the sardine is there.
he birds and porpoises locate him. The
building and repairing of the sardine fish
ing boats during what is called the dead
workmen. AS rule. they are lotion
ners, with crew of from six to ten men.
The captain and the mate are the only
professional fishermen on board; the 9th :
ers are men of all trades. The outfit con-
sists exclusively Of nets with very small
meshes, and their length is from 100 to
500 metres The upper parts of the nets
are kept upon the surface of the wat er
by cork and the entire machine is held
rigid by pieces of lead at the bottom. The
nets are all stained a sort of sea green
color, tc render them invisible.
When the first school of sardines is
noticed the boats all run to the fish ng
grounds The exact presence of the fish
is determined by an oily substance on the
surface of the water and also by con-
siderable quantity of little scales, which
give the water q metallic appearance
In calm weather. as soon as the captain
has his boat Immediately over the shoal,
he lowers his nets and two men of the
crew, with great oars work steadily to
keep the boat stationary, while the others
lower the nets. Standing at the stern of
he boat the captain throws the chum
overheard. This chum is bait made Of
the eggs of the goldfish, and it keeps the
fish in the desired place. A spot that
Is we'll baited in this way is called Harden
in French, and the casting of the chum is
called bailler.
In few moments, if the fish are plenti-
full. new quantities of scales float upon
the surface aud the net itself is agitated
by the struggles of the immense number
Of fish. Then 1t is lifted, and while the
sails are again hoisted and the boat point
ed for shore the men OF the crew shake
the nets and toss the fish upon the deck.
A curious thing about this kind of fish
ing is that one rarely sees a living sardine
out of the water. The dsh make little
squeak when taken from the water and
die instantly. OF the $50 or 300 fishing
boats fitted out at Belle Isle about 200
belong to Palais and the others to Sauzon
1t is in these two ports that the fishermen
sell their fish An ordinary eaton of sar-
dimes gives to each boat from 5000 to 49,
GOO fish and the price is regulated by the
quantity brought In by the first corners.
Upon the docks the representatives of
the great preserving establishments hail
the fishermen, who tell them that they
alone caught enough worth mentionin &
and that the other boats caught nothing.
Then they enter into discussion regard
ing the price.
chow many thousand have you,
Jannic?"
"About s,00O.''
"Tben will give you seven francs q
thousand"
ooh, no, that is not enough. 1 cannot
sell at that price, =,
But as the rest of the flotilla appear, az
the first corners consent 10 sell their ISL
at seven francs per 600, and In an ho1r
aftorward the later arrivals can get only
SO confines per 1000, and sometimes they
| can get no sale whatever for their catohes
and are obliged to throw the sardlnes
overheard, because the little fish remain
fresh for only TWO or three hours at mo sr
on the other hand, If the run is not Ok
oeptionally numerous, oil the fish are
bought at from 80 to 40 francs per looo'
Sardine fishing is more or less danger,
GUS. Often boats chat put to sea in rough
weather never come back. When the sar-
dimes are sold on the dock they are taken
in baskets to the cannery. Each basket
contains 200 fish. In addition to the
price which is immediately paid to him him
In the dock, the captain usually ge15ss
abont half a gallon of wine for himself
and crew. coo
During the sardine season about 5oo
women and fifty men anyiouly await the
arrival of the first boats. 1t there are no
fish, there is no work for them. Wnen
the news arrives that the boats haVe
their welcome oargoes, the women, III