THE FROZEN HERRING INDUSTRY. 451 



lu seining the fish the captain usually takes his position in the bow of tin- scinc-lmat while ( lu- 

 cre w are employed in rowing the boat along within a few rods of the shore. The herring are de- 

 tected by means of small bubbles rising to the surface. As soon as these are seen, one end of the 

 seine is made fast to the shore, after which it is "shot" around the fish and the other end is again 

 brought to the land. The net is often hauled across the month of a small cove and the fish are 

 readily confined until such time as the market offers or until the weather becomes cool enough for 

 freezing them. Again, after the ends of the seine are brought to the shore it is frequently anchored 

 and the fish confined within its walls for several days, until they can be satisfactorily disposed of. 

 The fish are seldom if ever hauled upon the beach, but the seine is hauled in until the fish are 

 confined in a small space, after which they are dipped out and boated to the vessels or to the 

 shore, as the case may be. 



The catch is often very large, sometimes reaching upwards of a thousand barrels at a single 

 haul. 



The fish "strike in" in great numbers at certain seasons, and, unless taken at once, are apt to 

 pass up under the ice out of reach of the nets, and many are thus frequently lost. 



Many of the poorer fishermen who do not own seines, and who are not hired by the seiners to 

 engage in the fishery, provide themselves with gill-nets, setting them at night in the ordinary way 

 and visiting them early in the morning, sometimes securing a large catch in this way. 



The fish taken are sometimes mixed, several sizes being found in the same school. Such fish 

 are seldom bought by the American vessels if large fish of uniform size can be obtained the diffi- 

 culty being in finding a market for the smaller fish and a vessel bringing a cargo of mixed fish to 

 the United States finds it difficult to dispose of them except at reduced rates. 



METHODS AT NEW BRUNSWICK. In the New Brunswick fisheries the herring are taken ex- 

 clusively in gill-nets, no seines of any kind being used. The fishermen gather from different places 

 along the coast of New Brunswick and from the nearer fishing towns on the coast of Maine, 

 remaining in the locality until the close of the season. Most of them have small vessels, which 

 serve as a home and on which they dry and mend their nets. These are usually anchored in some 

 cove convenient to the fishing grounds or in the lee of some island, where they remain until 

 enough fish have been taken to be carried to Eastport or elsewhere for a market. The vessels 

 engaged in this fishery vary in size from 5 to 40 tons. They are among the poorest vessels 

 engaged in the fisheries of the American coast, a portion of them being only partially decked, 

 with small cuddies forward for eating and sleeping. Others are the old-style sharp and square 

 stern ed vessels that have practically become worthless for the other fisheries. 



Many of the New Brunswick fishermen live on the shores in the immediate locality, and use 

 only small boats for engaging in the work. 



The vessels are provided with the ordinary reach-boats, 15 to 20 feet in length. These are 

 locally known as net-boats, and are worth about $40 each. The number varies from one to five, 

 according to the size of the crew. The crews of the vessels average only four or five men, though 

 they vary from two to ten. In the larger vessels one man remains on board to keep things in 

 order and to do the cooking, while the remainder are engaged in catching the fish. In the smaller 

 vessels all are engaged in fishing, and each takes his turn in cooking the food. Two men go in the 

 same boat to set, tend, and haul their nets. 



They usually leave the vessel about three in the afternoon for the purpose of setting, and on 

 reaching the grounds set their nets in 8 to 25 fathoms of water, sinking them to a depth of several 

 feet below the surface. The nets are allowed to remain until the following morning, when they are 

 visited, hauled, and carried to the vessel, where they are picked and dried. Formerly several nets 



