Evening star., 1915-06-13

| drifters in the war or to the loss OF
| such vessels, whose owners have been
| willing to run the risk OF operating
| them because of the high premium on
all kinds of fish. Many steamers anu
/ an immense number of sailing vessels
| are engaged in the herring glil net
| fishery, while the otter traWl vessels
are almost always steamers
| One of the strange and unexpected
| developments of the North sea fisher
les is that a bottom fishing apparatus
i should be extensively employed IN
! the capture of herring, which is not a
! bottom fish The explanation seems 70
! be that the nets while being lowered
I or drawn in pass through the dense
herring shoals. At times also. espec-
| tally at the spawning season, herring
do resort to the bottom and may thus
| be taken with an appliance that is par
| ticularly adapted for sole, hounder'
halibut, haddock and other typical bot
| tom fish.
1t is only a question of time when our
Alaska herring, prepared after Scotch
and Norwegian methods, will largel!
take the place in our own country OF
the herring we now import Mean
while, and especially under present cir
cumstances, the opportunity invites us
to pack our herring for the foreign
market. They are wanted over there
by the millions of barrels and at prices
| which should be highly remunerative
to fishermen and dealers on this side or
the water.
To meet the requirements of the fish,
eating countries of Europe our herring
should be prepared in accordance with
certain methods, which involve no spe-
cial difficulties. The processes used, IN
fact, are very simple. The so-called
| kippered herring is split. gutted: salted
! and smoked. The white-cured herring
heavily salted The red herring is
heavily salted, smoked long enough to
give it rich color and shipped chleny
| to Italy, Greece and other countries in
| the region of the Mediterranean
Another of our fishes that is to a
great extent unusued is the silver hake,
or whiting. 1t frequents in innumer-
able shoals the waters along the coast
of New England. sometimes actually
blocking the fish traps. Many years
ago the bureau of fisheries tried to
! create a demand for this fish in the
| United States. We bought large guam
| titles of Writings in the market, had
them prepared and distributed them
gratis to the trade. The experiment
was only partly successful, but it set
some of the fish dealers to thinking. AS
D.! a result. there is at the present time
some demand for the silver hake, and
the trade is slowly increasing
The silver hake is nearly related to
the whiting of the North sea, which is
very highly esteemed food fish in
countries adjacent to those waters. Pre-
pared for market like the cod, it fur
nishes an acceptable substitute for the
latter.
Founders are among the best of food
| fishes, and in Europe are in great de-
mand. Fried in crumbs. they are served
| in our most expensive restaurants un-
:, der the title of filet of sole. In Massa-
i chusetts waters they are found in such
enormous numbers that the supply may
fairly be termed unlimited. They are
obtainable in such quantities and so
easily that dealers could afford to ex-
port them for little more than the cost
of barrels and salt.
Sailed in bulk. they could be sold in
Europe far cheaper than Scotch her
ring, and at large profit. Prime
herring were worth from IS to SO a