INSHORE FISHERIES 199 



last named fish increase the ease by which they may be 

 taken, but their very presence in inshore waters attracts 

 other fish of a deep-sea variety and renders possible the 

 pursuit of bank fishery by fishermen of small means. 



In our country, all varieties of the herring family have 

 been caught from the earliest days. At first their chief 

 importance was for fertilizer and for fresh food. After 

 the middle of the last century, their commercial importance 

 was greatly increased by the discovery of the value of the 

 oil, by their use as bait for deep-sea fisheries, and subse- 

 quently for their value in the sardine canning industry. 

 The records of the fishery are intermittent, as no accurate 

 attempt at recording their catch and value was begun until 

 after the close of the Civil War. There is little doubt but 

 that this family of fish will continue for generations to be 

 of importance in our fisheries, for the demand is greater 

 than the supply, and the supply is of such a kind that there 

 is little likelihood of the abundance being diminished ma- 

 terially by the annual catch of fish. 



THE HERRING. 



The true herring, sometimes called the sea herring, or 

 the English herring, ranks among the foremost of the 

 world's food-fishes. They occur on the Atlantic coast from 

 Labrador on the north to Cape Cod, occasionally even to 

 Cape Hatteras, on the south. It is probable that these 

 schools resort to inshore grounds for the purpose of spawn- 

 ing. The greater abundance of herring north of Cape Cod 

 makes it essentially a northern fish. On the east coast of 

 Maine young herring are canned and sold as sardines. 



In America, as in Europe, the herring spawn at different 

 seasons of the year. According to Mr. Earll, 1 they spawn 



iThe Herring Fishery and the Sardine Industry, Goode, Sec. V, 

 Vol. I, p. 402. 



