New-York tribune., 1902-07-20
CARIBBEAN FISHING.
WORK NOT WELL REWARDED-C CLEAR
NESS OF THE WATER.

NESS Or it1C w "A
The fishermen of the Caribbean islands have
/. hard time making a living. The water of
that wonderful tropical is deep and beau
tifuIly blue, but there are some reefs of coral
around the islands. and in the northern and
northeastern portions there are extensive shoals
called banks. One OF the most remarkable of
these is west and southwest of the island of
Saba and is called the Saba Bank. The coral
is so white and the water is so clear over this
great fishing ground that the sailors of olden
times were scared when they saw the bottom
from the decks Of their ships, and thought they
were going aground. When the sounding line
was paid out however, they were amazed to
learn that it from eight to fifteen fathoms
from the surface to the rocks so plainly seem
Now the official sailing directions of the
United States Navy state that, notwithstand-
ing the fact that the bottom is SO easily seen,
It is safe for the largest ships to cross this
shoal Near the islands of Antigua, AnguiIla
St. Martins and Sombrero there are also ex-
tensiye shoals and there are good fishing
banks southwestward from st. Croix and south
eastward from Porto Rico
The fishermen of the West Indies so TO sea
in sailing vessels or smacks very much like
those Of the Fulton Market fishermen, but the
small boats they carry are inferior to the dories
Of the New-York ships. They are round bot
toned, coffin shaped affairs that manifest
strong disposition TO turn bottomsde up. II
takes considerable Skill in balancing to manage
one of these boats even in smooth water. How
they live IN a choppy sea is of the Carib-
bean mysteries. The fishermen OF the Antilles,
however, are evidently in the secret, for they
ride the waves in these rollicking and unstable
boats safely and as gracefully as the Amer-
can fisherman is rocked in his dory.
The Goldfish, hake and haddock never visit
those far southern waters. They want a smack
of frost in their clement which is not to be had
south Of the Gulf Stream. The lazy seabass
stays north of Cuba and San Domingo. He
thri1es in the Gulf Of Mexico, but he wants
none Of the Caribbean Sea. Even the nimble
bluefsh which comes north only in warm
weather. never goes south as far as the Ana
gada, Virgin and Mona passages. The plaice.
with his belly side and both eyes
the other a bright New-York boy once put
it, is not to be found south of the Tropic Of
Cancer and even the mullet, which is so plenti-
ful in the Gulf of Mexico that acres Of them
are often seen lying with the heads of one tier
overlapping the tails of another. never strays
below Porto Rico
The most plentiful surface fish in the Carb-
bean Sea is the flying fish, of which there are
several varieties. Every ship that passes scares
up great schools of these spry little fellows,
which fly fifty TO hundred yards as
swiftly and as gracefully as a bird This fish
is considered a great delicacy throughout the
Caribbean islands. The method of catching it
is unique. The waters are baited with fish
heads and fish that are not edible, ground fine
ike the 'chum' OF our bluefishermen. When
the water is alive with flying fish feeding on this
'chum,' the fishermen cast large circular nets
with heavy lead sinkers around the edge so
they spread out fiat on the water There is a
draw string, and WheE the sinkers have car
Tied the edge of the net three four feet be-
low the surface, a smart pull closes it like a
bag and it is hauled in and emptied. While the
method is the same that of catching mullet
on the west coast Of Florida, the catch is never
so large.
The staple fish Of these tropical waters is the
redsnapper. Whether the bill of fare in a West