Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-01-25
WOODBURY., N. J, THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1900
A THRILLING SIGHT.
cATcHlNGSsSND KILLING THE NON
STER TuNNY FISH.

sTER TuNNY FISH.
They Are First Driven Into EnOr-
nous Nets Ia the Mediterranean
Sea and Are Then Stabbed and
SIashed to Death With Spears.
One of the most thrilling and won
derful sights in the world is that of the
funny fisheries of the Mediterranean
sea. The pursuit of these great and
swift fishes is notamere tame operation
of netting. 1t is fight between man
and sea creatures such as is duplicated
nowhere except in the whale fisheries
The funny is huge mackerel He is a
predaceous fish, and his course through
the seas is that of a destroyer without
parallel So deadly is the funny to the
schools of herring and similar food
fishes that be is called the herring hog
In our waters he is known more gen
orally as the horse mackerel
The funny fisheries are distinctly Eu-
ropean, and they are the oldest indus
try that is known in the Mediterranean
sea. To capture them men must band
themselves together in large bodies,
for fishermen slngly could do nothing
with these fishes which grow to a length
Of ten feet and weigh over half ton
sometimes Therefore there is a sys-
TEN of cooperation on the coasts that
are visited by the funny. a system
which dates hack to the Ph9nicians.
who were great funny catchers in their
time.
The perfection of this system is due,
among other things. to the fact that
the big fishes have absolutely regular
habits. In normal times they can be
relied on to make their appearance at
certain periods almost to the minute.
When they come. it is in huge schools
that can be seen afar, for they scour
the waters like ships of war. and the
leapings of their prey and the Ieapings
of their own bulky bodies beat the
deep into white foam and lather
Since they are so exact in their hab-
its, the fishermen prepare for them al
ways before they arrive. At some des-
ignated spot are spread enormous nets.
exceedingly deep and made of the
strongest of line. These are not de-
signed to catch the tunnies. They are
spread out merely to force the fishes to
edge in and in until they are led to the
real prison net. which is a vast con
trivance set in an immense square and
powerful enough to defy anything that
swims.
AS soon as the last of the school has
entered this boxlike inclosure the sides
of the great net are raised at a signal
At first the imprisoned fishes do not
show any signs of alarm. but as the
net rises. inch by inch. from the water
depths cleaning, swordlike backs ap-
pear here and there above the surface.
darting with Incredible swiftness from
side to side of the net Each instant
more of these living blades appear
above the surface
Then the fishes begin to leap. Here
one launches himself straight out of the
water-500 pounds of glorious Iife-to-
ward the sky, to crash back into the
sea with daillike blow of sides and
tail that makes the ocean echo. An
other and another rises and falls back
Soon the scene is as if the abysseS of
the sea were spouting their inhabit-
ants, for hundreds of immense silver
flashing fishes rise everywhere at once
within the net.
But now a new element enters,
Long, narrow fishing boats push Tito
the inclosure. In them stand brown
men with lances and spears and big
knives iashed to poles. Then begins a
fight that is terrible to see. The men
thrust madly into the struggling mass
es of fishes. The fishes leap and roll and
dive and leap again. hammering the
sea with tails that churn like the
screws of steamships and whiten the
waves with foam. Before many min
utes boats and men are drenched with
bloody water. The surface of the
ocean is red. Out of the smoking
spray peer faces now and then that are
dabbled with blood till they look
scarcely human.
Now and then a man slips and falls
among the harried fishes. Then there
are loud screams from his companions
and cries of supplication from him as
he calls to his patron saint. for 1t is no
joke to fall among those mighty bodies
that are dashing around in their death
throes.
So the fight continues till in that in
closed space of sea there is not fish
alive. Every boat is half full of water
and loaded down with living silver.
where the slim. piratical bodies of the
beautiful fishes lie. The inhabitants of
the towns near the scene of this fishing
make a fete day Of the arrival of the
funny. for 1t means food and employ
ment for many hundreds of men. wom
en- and children The fish is a favorite
article of food. especially when salted.
and the roe is great delicacy. which
brings fancy prices. The tunnies that
are caught off the Italian coasts have
to be passed through the custom house
when they are landed. like any other
merchandise, and the streets there pre-
sent strange appearance then. for on
all sides are wheelbarrows full of the
shapely. monstrous creatures.-New
York Press.
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