470 



HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



" Owing to the above-mentioned causes the herring catch of 1873 is much inferior to that of 

 1872. In that year 14,806 barrels of it were caught by foreign vessels, while 2,956 barrels were 

 prepared by the inhabitants. 



" From what I have heard herring was not much more abundant this season than last."* 



From that time the fleet has been so small as to be quite unimportant, and during several 

 recent seasons no vessels have visited the Magdalens for herring. We know of but one vessel that 

 engaged in the trade in 1879, and in 1880 it is said that none were employed. According to Mr. 

 A. Howard Clark, herring were plenty at Magdalen Islands in the spring of 1881, when two Glou- 

 cester and four Boston vessels brought home 2,500 barrels salted in bulk. They were taken in a 

 haul-seine carried by one of the fleet, all of the fishermen assisting in the work of capture. Nearly 

 all of the fish were landed in Boston. 



The Newfoundland and Labrador herring fisheries are so wholly different from those just 

 described that it is difficult to give any statistics of the quantity of pickled herring brought home 

 by American vessels. The fish being present during a greater part of the year, the fleet visiting 

 these localities for other species often bring home partial cargoes of herring, and no vessels can be 

 said to be regularly engaged in the pickled-herring trade with either place, though a few vessels 

 fit out for trips to some of the principal harbors whenever they chance to be otherwise occupied, 

 provided, of course, that the condition of the herring market will warrant such a venture. From 

 our limited information on the subject we would say that from six to ten cargoes, aggregating 

 3,000 to 4,000 barrels, would be landed yearly by American vessels. This represents, of course, 

 only a small part of the herring brought to the United States from these places, as the various 

 transportation lines bring considerable quantities and a number of cargoes are brought by the 

 fishing vessels of the provinces. In addition to these, American vessels are engaged in running 

 frozen herring during the winter months. The following table, compiled from those given under 

 oath before the Halifax Fishery Commission, by James S. Hayward, assistant collector of Her 

 Majesty's customs at St. John's, Newfoundland,! shows the quantity of herring imported into the 

 United States from that island each year from 1851 to 1876, inclusive :f 



EXPORT TRADE. For many years the fish dealers of several of the larger cities have been 



* Sixth Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries of Canada, 1872-73. Appendix B, pp. 55-56. 



tSee Documents and Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, 1877. Vol. II, pp. 1509-1518. 



{In the original tables no mention is made of fresh or frozen herring prior to 1872, but they were probably in- 

 cluded with the pickled fish up to that time. Since 1872 the pickled fish have been separated from the others, but we 

 have combined them so that the table given here may represent all of the herring imported during the period men- 

 tioned. 



