546 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



meshes. In this w&y large catches were often made and the market 

 was glutted ; but the method came into disrepute and is no longer fol- 

 lowed. Fishing is now carried on exclusively with gill nets, made of 

 very fine cotton twine; they are 45 yards long and 500 meshes deep, 

 and are kept in position in the water by numerous cork floats and a 

 few stone sinkers. The mesh is necessarily very small, as it is intended 

 to gill the tiny sardines. The nets vary in fineness to suit the different 

 runs of sardines, and are of about three standard sizes. The largest 

 mesh is equal, in America, to 0.66 inch, bar measure, while the smallest 

 size equals 0.40 inch. The complement of each boat is 10 nets, 

 representing the three sizes of mesh. 



The nets are dyed a bright greenish blue, and when suspended 

 from the masts to dry add to the picturesqueness of the fishing boats 

 and the wharf scenes. The dyeing is for the twofold purpose of preserv- 

 ing the nets and rendering them less conspicuous when in the water. 



In the fishery for sardines for canning, bait is almost as important 

 as the boats and nets. In no other net fishery in the world is bait so 

 extensively employed and so essential to the success of the industry. 

 The scarcity of bait is always a serious matter in the fishing districts, 

 curtailing the catch, reducing the income of the fisherman, and often 

 producing distress among the fisherfolk. It is therefore remarkable 

 that for this indispensable article the French should be absolutely 

 dependent on other countries and that the success of the fishery for 

 sardines should be intimately related to the fisheries for other species 

 in distant lands. 



In the early days of the sardine fishery, especially prior to the estab- 

 lishment of canneries, small shrimp-like animals, about half an inch in 

 length, were much used as bait. The gathering of this kind of bait 

 was an occupation of the women, who sought the schools in the bays 

 and coves, catching them in large canvas bag-nets. They frequently 

 made their best catches in water up to their necks, when the weather 

 was bad and the water along the shores was thick. The taking of these 

 little creatures appears to have been prohibited many years ago, because 

 of the supposed destruction of the eggs at the time of catching the 

 shrimps. Although the interdiction is now removed, little effort is 

 made to secure this form of bait. 



The bait now in general use is the salted eggs of the cod, though 

 the eggs of hake, haddock, pollock, cusk, herring, mackerel and many 

 other fishes are also employed. Cod eggs are not known to possess any 

 properties which make them superior to the eggs of several other species, 

 but owe their prominence to the abundance of cod in regions on which 

 the sardine fishermen depend for their bait supply. The annual con- 

 sumption of roe in France at present is 40,000 to 45,000 barrels, for 

 which the fishermen pay about $300,000. It is reported that in favor- 



