The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1898-09-01
HUNTING TIE HERRING
q Prolinc Fish That Has nlany En-
emies 'Among the HtAlan 'ani
Finny Creatures,


the north Atlantic ocean is the true
herring, Clupea harengus. ItEextends
its range eastward along the, shores
of the Arctic ocean at least as far as
Siberia, and on our coast ranges as
far south as Cape Hatteras, though it
never occurs in great abundance south
Of Block island, and the principal fish
cries are north of Cape Cod.
The herring fishery on North Amer
lean coasts is shore fishery, not be-
cause the fish are not abundant at sea,
but because the shore catches are
great enough to supply the demand
The herring is not as important part
of the food supply in America as it is
| in Europe, though the fisheries sup
port many thousands of people in
America and Canada.
The oldest method of catching her
ring IS by ''torching." It begins usually
about the time of the new moon in Sep
TENDER, when the nights are dark. A
torch, generally made of stick with
ball of kerosene-soaked cotton at the
end, is fastened in the bow OF boat,
which is rowed rapidly by two fisher
men, while third is in the bow with a
large dipnet. As long as the light is
| kept in rapid motion the fish rise to it
in crowds, but when the motion ceases
they sink quickly. AS they rise they
are baled quickly into the boat. Some
times, when the herring show an in
clination to stay in deep water, away
from the, weirs Or set nets, ''torching"
is used to toll them to the traps. In
some places this practice has been for
hidden by law.
The weirs are old forms of herring
traps. The Indians used them in the
simpler forms. They are made of
brushwood, closely interlaced. and
some are of immense extent. The
original form was known as the half
tide or hedge weir, because it was so
constructed that the fish enter them
when the tide was half ebb, but could
not escape after the water fell. The
modern weirs have long wings or lanes
extended far into deep water. These
turn the fish as they come in, and they
swim along the fence until the; enter
the real trap.
The other form of netting behring's
is by gillnets. These nets are anchored
below the surface, and their positions
are marked by buoys. The fish swim
into the meshes, and, in trying to es-
cape get their gills tangled in the fine
Irvine, so that in short time they are
dead and held safely till the fishermen
raise their nets.
The fishermen of the island of Grand
Manan, province of New Brunswick.
have remarkable system for trap.
ping herring. The island lies in the
Bay of Fundy, and it's northwestern
shore consists of wall of high cliffs
about Is miles long, with only one i'm
portant opening-that which leads
into Dark Harbor, a deep bay about
half mile wide. The tides there rise
about Is feet, and as the basin fills al
most entirely through this one open
ing in the rocks currents have grea.
velocity.
The fishermen have taken advantage
of this by building huge marine trap
gate Of stakes in the opening, permit
ting the schools of herring to run in
freely, but blocking their exit. Thu:
Dark harbor has been turned into q
huge fish pond, where herring may b.
taken at almost any time.
Herring rarely approach shore close
~ in daylight, and they also avoid the
surface of the water until it is dark
On moonlight nights the fish otter
play on the surface, but relatively few
can be taken then by edriftnets. It i
believed that the light enables them te
see the nets, and it has been noticed
that when the water is phosphores
cent, making the nets shine in the
depths, the catches are small. DarE
nights, therefore, are what the herring
fishers want.-N. Y. Press.