1 62 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



In some cases the crews have taken semes for the purpose of themselves capturing the herring. 

 Sometimes the natives have been hired to take the fish with the American seines rather than with 

 their own rude gear. About the middle of January these vessels arrive at Gloucester, and sell the 

 herring for bait, or else proceed to New York or Boston, where there is a demand for these fish as 

 food. 



The New Brunswick trade now has its headquarters at Eastport, Me., near the herring grounds. 

 Instead of taking out general cargoes for trade, vessels in this business go from Gloucester to East- 

 port, in ballast or empty, and purchase the herring from the catchers either directly or through an 

 agent who is sent out from Gloucester for this purpose. The business can be carried on only during 

 cold weather, and must be abandoned in March or the early part of April. The cargoes are stowed 

 in bulk in the vessel's hold, and sometimes the cabin is also filled full, large vessels bringing 

 home from 300,000 to 500,000 herring at a time. The crews on the vessels are small, numbering 

 from three to seven men, or just enough to navigate the vessel and care for the cargo. All the 

 men are hired by the mouth, and have no special share in the venture. In the chapter on the fish- 

 cries the frozen-herring business is fully discussed in all its phases, and need not be further men- 

 tioned here. It was in this trade at Newfoundland that the, Fortune Bay outrages occurred a few 

 "winters ago. The business gives employment to from thirty to fifty sail of vessels that might 

 otherwise be unemployed during the winter, and has proved very profitable to those engaged in 

 it. As it is a trade rather than a fishery, the statistics of product and capital are not included in 

 the census report. 



During the year 1880 there arrived at Gloucester 19,587,000 frozen herring, valued at about 

 $100,000. Nearly all of these came from the vicinity of Grand Mauan, New Brunswick, and East- 

 iport, Me. Of this great number of herring, 11,742,000 were sold at Gloucester to the fishing vessels 

 for bait, and the balance, 7,845,000, were sent to New York, Boston, and Philadelphia to be sold 

 .for food. 



THE SHORE BOAT FISHERIES. The shore fishery includes the capture of cod, hake, haddock, 

 mackerel, and herring. The, boats are all under five tons burden, most of them simply dories, 

 carrying two or three men each. The number of shore boats in 1S79 was 256, the number of men 

 356, and the catch, 5,076,000 pounds of fish. Abou 125 of these men are engaged in this 

 shore fishery the year round, while the remainder fish only during the winter season, when great 

 schools of cod usually visit the shores of Cape Ann. 



From November until May the principal catch of the boats is codfish. During May and until 

 July haddock become more abundant, and from July till the middle of September hake are chiefly 

 takeu. By the latter part of September all the shore fishermen are active in preparation for the 

 expected school of herring that come in to spawn. For about a week at the beginning of October 

 there is great bustle in the capture of these herring, but after they have left the coast there is 

 little for the small boats to do but to wait for the coming of the winter cod. The larger boats 

 tluring this interval go offshore a few miles for pollock that are usually abundant in the latter 

 part of October and first of November. Boats that have good gill-nets, especially those on the 

 north side of the cape, find considerable profit during the summer mouths in taking mackerel 

 in Ipswich Bay. At Lauesville and Folly Cove haking is a favorite pursuit of the fishermen. 

 In favorable seasons they take from 3,000 to 4,000 quintals of these fish, and make, besides a profit 

 from the fish themselves, an equal profit on the sounds and livers. Hake frequently sell for 60 

 cents per hundred-weight as they conic from the water, while the sounds and livers are alone 

 worth that amount, so that fishermen who have the facilities cure their own fish and make nearly 



