12 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



their iutrodiiction is unknown. It is asserted, however, that this method 

 of fishing- has been pursued since early in the present century, and is 

 st'ill carried on to some extent. 



The coast of Newfoundland is indented with many large bays, which 

 are favorite feeding grounds for the cod. In the early summer they 

 make their appearance in pursuit of the capelin that gather in immense 

 numbers along the shores to spawn, and generally remain from three to 

 five weeks. During this time the cod usually keep near the surface of the 

 water and the nets are set floating, but later they are set at the bottom, 

 for when the capelin leave the shores the cod move into deeper water. 

 Plates VIII and IX show the methods of setting at the surface and bot- 

 tom. The nets are set singly or in gangs of three to seven. Two an- 

 chors are generally attached to a gang of floating nets, as represented 

 in the i)late, but where there is a current one is sometimes found suffi- 

 cient. They are usually set in the afternoon and hauled in the morning. 

 Owing to the comparative lightness of the anchors, fewer men are re- 

 quired to haul these than in Norway, as a single fisherman will some- 

 times take in one or more nets, though in most cases two or three go in 

 a boat. The net-fishing is far less productive than that of Norway, but 

 sometimes a large catch is made. Captain Jacobs states tiiat on one 

 occasion he took from four nets 2,000 cod, but says that this is rarely 

 equaled. These fish are what are known in the American markets as 

 • medium cod. 



3. — The American fisheries. 



Mention has been made of the introduction and trial of cod gill-nets 

 by the United States Fish Commission in 1878, but no attempt was 

 made by the fishermen to use them until the fall of 1880, when Capt. 

 George H. Martin, of Gloucester, Mass., master of the schooner Northern 

 Eagle, fitted out with them for the winter cod-fisheries ofl" Cape Ann 

 and in Ipswich Bay. The immediate cause which led to this trial was 

 the difficulty of procuring a supply of bait, which is a source of consid- 

 erable trouble to our shore-fishermen, and its cost, even when obtainable, 

 is such a heavy tax on this branch of the fishing industry that often the 

 fishermen hesitate to engage in it, fearing that it may result in loss 

 rather than gain. It was to obviate this difficulty about bait, and to 

 render our cod-fisheries more valuable in consequence, that led Professor 

 Baird to bring the cod gill-nets to the notice of the American fishermen. 

 The bait principally depended on by the shore-fishermen in the vicinity 

 of Cape Ann, during the fall and earlj^ winter, is young herring {Clupea 

 harengiis), known as the "spirling." The appearance of these fish about 

 the cajje is somewhat uncertain ; sometimes large schools remain for sev- 

 eral weeks, and at other times but few can be taken. There was so little 

 probability of getting a supply of bait in the fall of 1880 that CaiJtain 

 Martin hesitated about fitting out, fearing that the cost and difficulty 

 of securing a sux)i)ly of this article, which is indisi)ensable to the trawl- 



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