THE HERRING FISHERY. 425 



increased in importance, and most of the residents built smoke-houses for curing their catch. A 

 little later small vessels began to engage in the fishery, and soon twenty-five or thirty sail, includ- 

 ing several of the larger crafts, were often anchored in the harbor at the same time. 



The development of the Magdalen herring fisheries had a depressing effect upon the fisheries 

 of this region, and as the supply from that region increased the local fishermen were obliged to 

 turn their attention to other branches of the business. From 1850 the decline of the local fishery 

 was quite rapid, and for a number of years no vessels have visited the harbor, though a few of 

 the boat-fishermen still net a small quantity of herring, which are reported as still abundant in 

 these waters. 



OASCO BAY AND SOUTHWARD. Though considerable numbers of herring are taken about the 

 numerous islands in the mouth of Gasco Bay, and at Richmond Island near Cape Elizabeth, the 

 principal herring fisheries of the western coast of Maine are confined to the waters in the vicinity 

 of Wood Island, lying near the mouth of Saco River, 12 miles to the southwest of the city of 

 Portland. This is one of the principal spawning grounds for the herring within the limits of the 

 United States, and the fishery is more extensively prosecuted in this vicinity than at any other 

 point, except Eastport, where not only large but immature fish are taken. 



Wood Island is the largest of a group of small rocky islands and ledges lying just off the cape 

 which forms the southern boundary of Casco Bay. It is about half a mile long by less than a 

 quarter of a mile wide. Inside of the island is a harbor, which, though it offers fair anchorage, is 

 exposed to easterly gales, while farther in is a shoal- water cove affording excellent shelter for the 

 fishing fleet. 



The herring visit this region solely for the purpose of spawning. They arrive in small numbers 

 about the 20th of September and gradually become more abundant until, a week later, the water is 

 literally filled with them. The great bulk of the fish remain but a few days, after which they 

 disappear. 



The accounts of some of the early voyagers mention the fact that herring were very abundant 

 in this region, and it is probable that the fishery has been more or less extensively prosecuted from 

 the earliest settlement of the country. For the last twenty years the locality has been the favorite 

 resort of many of the smaller vessels of the various fishing towns between Cape Cod and Penobscot 

 Bay, and, though the fleet has varied considerably from year to year, it has gradually increased, 

 until in the. fall of 1879 there were, according to the statements of the leading Portland packers, 

 fully one hundred and fifty sail, with from two to seven men each, engaged in the fishery, the catch 

 amounting to nearly 20,000 barrels. The greater part of the vessels are owned at Gloucester, Mass., 

 and at Portland, Booth Bay, Bristol, and Friendship, Me. 



About the time the herring leave Wood Island a large school makes its appearance among 

 the numerous rocky ledges just south of Cape Ann. On their arrival the principal fishing is at 

 Norman's Woe, at the entrance of Gloucester Harbor, but a little later the herring are more abundant 

 off Marblehead, and later still near Boston Light, at the entrance of Boston Harbor. 



Many of the vessels that have been fishing at Wood Island proceed to Cape Ann, and other 

 vessels and boats from the region join in the work, so that the water is soon well filled with nets, 

 and the catch sometimes reaches upwards of 12,000 barrels during the two or three weeks that the 

 fishing continues. 



It is claimed by some that the herring taken here belong to the school that visited Wood Island 

 earlier in the season, and that they could readily be followed from one place to the other, a distance 

 of over 50 miles. Others insist that the schools an; wholly distinct, and that those leaving Wood 

 Island have thrown all of their eggs and milt, while the school that visits Cape Ann is "full-roed" 



