The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-03-08
SALT WATER FISHES.
Beaufort, N. c., Letter in st. Louis
Globe Democrat

beaufort, N. c., Letter in st. Louis
Globe Democrat
The most important discovery in coast
| fishing SO far has been made by the fish
ermen off shore here and there is reason
to believe that there will be far-reaching
results obtained in the future through
| improved methods of deep sea seining
In the two winter months of January and
February all of our littoral species of fish
| disappear almost entirely from the wa
| tiers off our coast and fishermen are com
PEELED to fold up their seines and wait
until spring for the reappearan CO of their
favorite game. A very few daring and
adventurous spirits go far out to sea with
J long lines and succeed in catching few
each day to supply the markets; but as d
| rule the catches have been comparatively
small and insignificant.
| Scientists have concluded that the fishes
| 40 to some unknown region or depths OF
the ocean to breed during these two cold
months, and upon their return IN the
sprip they are accompanied by innum-
erable hosts of young fry. The discovery
offshore is nothing less than that OF
a winter nursery of our littoral species OF
fish. From six to eight fathoms below
the surface of the water the fish have been
| found to be literally swarming in count.
less numbers, and hooks and seines let
down to that depth Invariably bring up
rich hauIs. No amount of coaxing and
temptation can induce the fish to leave
their warm winter habitat far below the
surface, and the fishermen have to adopt
| new methods of catching them.
| The discovery Is important in modify
ing our prevailing methods of catching
marketable food fish and in cheapening
the supply in winter and in furnishing
the needy workers with employment at
an off season when pow rty and hardship
often press most severely uTon them
Naturalists have believed for rome time
that most OF our sea-food fishes migrated
4 to warmer climates in winter, as our
birds do, and returned in the spring; but
now it seems that they merely swim Off
E'shoressome distance and drop down into
\ deep corrugations, and remain happy
] and contented nntilepring returns.
/ The fish care found off Beaufort and
Morehead City In deep holes OF corruga-
tions. In the summer time they come
4 inshore further, and swarm around the
oyster beds and the bays and inlets. A
great variety of food fish is found in this
winter nursery, such as the red drum,
| gray trout, or weaktish, and many others.
Last winter, the fishermen, with deep sea
lines managed to make big hauls over
these winter pasture fields. They let
down lines from five to ten fathoms and
brought up big game. But this was soon
considered too slow work, and special
deep sea nets were manufactured for the
purpose. These nets were heavily
weighted, and when sunk to the proper
depth they brought up enormous hauls
| of fish.
| %bo Hch;y bo1
than ever. Improvements have been made
upon the nets, and the fishermen have
| been scoring wonderful successes. In the
! first five days of February 1853, 900 pounds
of trout and 1876, 900 brokers' were caught
| in this manner about 2 12 miles off shore
where the depth averages six fathoms.
The fishing has been SO good in places
| that the men have made as high as $40
each in one day. Men all along shore 1T
of employment, are flocking to the place
to take part in the fishing. A man pro-
vided with deep sea line and hooks who
| is willing to endure the hardships, can
make good living in this way. But it
is no easy work to operate line six to
| eight fathoms in length, with several
pounds of lead and fve-pound fish on
the other end. Some Of the line fisher
men come in at night with boat load of
fish. but their hands are so cut and mu-
next day. Thick buckskin gloves on the
hands are necessary for the proper protec.
ton of the skin, "a
The fact being established that the fish
merely sink to good depth off our coast
in winter instead of migrating to some
| tropical sea, the question of discovering
the hiding place of other species becomes
| interesting. 1t is thought that the same
sort of thing may be applied TO the cod
fish off the Newfoundland banks, and to
the red snappers off the Florida coast.
| If the winter habitat of these fishes is not
1 too deep they may be caught right
| through the cold weather with properly
| constructed yseines. 1t is believed now
tbat countless millions of ssshad, salmon.
herring, striped bass and other anadro-
mons fish are hidden away in the fields
Of the ocean a short distance off our
coast and that only small per cent of
them enter our rivers to spawn in given
season. In fact If. one-hundredth OF all
chat are in the eanashould make SIM
infamous movement in this direction
they would completely choke up every
ri YER in the country. Hence it is quite
| important that their winter hiding place
should be discovered. In the nets off
beaufort an occasional striped bass, blue
| fish. salmon, herring and shad have
been caught, demonstrating that they are
aground somew here in the deep corruga-
tions of the oceans bottom. The man
who discovers their winter hiding place
will open I'D new industry of bremen