INSHORE FISHERIES 207 



The smoked and pickled herring industries are closely 

 related, separate treatment being used in curing herring 

 for the market. For seven or eight years previous to 

 1866, the herring trade was carried on by American fish- 

 ermen on the coast of Maine from Deer Island eastward to 

 Eastport. The cargoes of fish were secured at the Magdalen 

 Islands and on the Maine coast. About fifty vessels went 

 to the Islands in the spring bringing home full fares, which 

 were sold to good advantage. Since 1866, herring have 

 failed to visit the Magdalen Islands regularly and many 

 vessels resorting to the islands for the fish have returned 

 with broken fares. 1 



Many vessels have resorted to the fishing grounds of 

 Newfoundland for herring after failure to secure a fare 

 at the Magdalen Islands. The principal bays and harbors 

 of the coast of Newfoundland visited by American fish- 

 ermen for herring are Fortune Bay on the southern side, 

 Bonne Bay and Bay of Islands on the western side. The 

 principal fishing season for Americans occurs in the fall, 

 from October to the last of December. The western bays 

 are visited by the pickled herring fleet: for the past five 

 years nearly all the frozen herring have come from the 

 Bay of Islands, on the northwest coast, having been taken 

 by gill-nets. Ice forms early in the western bays so that 

 vessels are sometimes caught and frozen in, where they 

 have to remain until spring. 



The capture of herring at Magdalen Islands used to be by 

 gill-nets and haul-nets. Purse-seines were first carried by 

 the Gloucester fishermen about 1865, and for seven years 

 the larger part of the herring was taken in that way. For 

 many years the seine fishing was profitably carried on by 

 vessels from Lubec, Eastport, Lamoine, and other towns 

 on the Maine coast. The number of vessels visiting the 

 Magdalen Islands decreased after 1870. In 1869, this fish- 



i Goode, Sec. V, Vol. I. 



