Year: 1866

Sardines--How Caught and Prepared


A correspondent of the London Times
10 an article on the French fisheries, ha
the following:


The great French sardine fishery is con
Quoted in way that is quite remarkable
for the extravaganza it involves The spra
fisheries on the British coast-indeed, al
the net fisheries of our coasts-are carried
on in the most primitive way, ard witt
very great success. The French sardin'
fishery is conducted in way altogether diff
ferent from ours; it presents this anomaly
-namely, that the French made it bal
fishery, requiring the annual expenditure
of an enormous sum of money for substance
with which to entice the fish this substance
being the roe of the cod fgurative whale
to catch sprat. On the shores of thu
North Sea fisheries have been established
solely for the purpose of providing the egg
of the Goldfish as bait for the sardine catch
ers of Concarneau.


This roe, which is prepared, costs 81
francs per barrel; each boat employed il
the sadine fishery will use about Is barrels
every season, and, as there are about three
thousand sardine boats on the Coast of Brit
tany, the money paid for bait cannot be
much under 100000 per annum. The
number of Goldfish which must be killed, Of
at least are killed, for the purpose of Oh
tanning this ground bait is therefore enor
nous, and if the fishery exhibitions now
open in France achieve nothing more thar
the teaching of the men of Cuncarneau tc
catch their sardines as the British frsher.
men catch their sprats, they will indeed be
great success.


The capture and cure of the sardine is 6
great business in France, and especially al
Concarneau, where as many as thirteen
thousand men aid in the fishery. 1t is moi
easy to obtain accurate statistics of the busi
ness done in sardines. In the first place
there is large quantity sold fresh-that is
packed in dry salt in little baskets made oI
rushes, and sent wherever there is mode
of outlet Then there is an enormous quan
tity sold in those familiar tins 1t is said
that beside the quantity exported, which is
large, they are as many as 100000 boxes
cured in oil and prepared for the home mar
ket; then, besides these, large number
are sold loose in barrels and also pressed in
barrels.


1t is an interesting sight to witness the
arrival of the boats, and to see the rush tc
the curing establishments, Of the men, wo.
men and children interested in the sales.-
How their sabots do clatter as they prance
over the stones The curers just buy from
day to day what sardines they require, and
no more; generally speaking, they do not,
as in the Scottish herring fishery, make con.
tracts with boats, and only one or two firms
have boats of their own. When the curers
are in want Of supply of fish they put up
flag at their curing establishment, and the
fishermen hurry to supply them, the price
varying from day to day according as the
fishery has been abundant or the reverse.
AS soon as the boats arrive the fish are put
in train for the cure by being Quilted, be-
headed, sorted into sizes, and washed in sea
water, chiefly by women, who can earn from
12f. to 20f week at these curing establish.
ments.


The cure is begun by drying the fish on
nets or willows, generally in the open air,
but sometimes from stress of weather it
must be done under cover. After being
dried they are ready for the process of the
pan, which is kept over a furnace, and is
filled with boiling oil. Into the cauldron
the fish are plunged, two rows deep, arran-
ged on wire gratings. In this pan of oil, (the
very finest olive oil,) they remain for a
a brief period, till, in the judgment of the
cook, they are done sufficiently. Then they
are placed to drip, the drippings Of oil be-
ing of course carefully collected; after
which they are packed by women and girls
into the nice little clean boxes in which
they are sold Again they are allowed to
drip by the boxes being sloped; then each
box, by means of tap, is filled carefully
up to its lid with pure olive oil, when it IS
ready for the next process which is the SOL
deriDg Of the lids, or, as it may be called,
the hermetical sealing up of the box, most
particular part of the process, at which the
men can earn very large wages, with this
drawback, that they have to buy all the fish
that are spoiled.