396 A HISTORY OF FISHES 



salting or pickling in brine, smoking, drying, and canning, 

 the former being perhaps the method in most general use 

 throughout the world. The dry salting of Cod is an important 

 industry both in Europe and America. Sometimes the whole 

 process is carried out ashore, but more generally the fish are 

 decapitated, split, cleaned and salted almost as soon as they are 

 caught, and after being washed are stacked in the fish-hold 

 with heavy layers of salt between them. After being landed, 

 the fish are removed to "cod farms," where the curing is com- 

 pleted by drying, and they are finally packed in barrels for 

 export. Salt Cod, known as "klip-fish," are split and spread 

 out on rocks to dry, whereas "stock-fish" are hung up to dry 

 without being split in any way. Salt Cod has played an 

 important part in the economy of European nations for several 

 centuries, and formed the Lenten fare of Catholic Europe in 

 the Middle Ages. To-day the principal markets for this com- 

 modity are in Catholic countries such as Spain, Portugal, and 

 Italy in Europe, the West Indies, and Argentina, Brazil, and 

 Uruguay in South America. In 1929 415,742 cwts. of salted 

 Cod of British taking were exported from the United Kingdom, 

 valued at ;£"940,789, and of this total Spain received 50,474 cwts., 

 Portugal 29,736 cwts., and Brazil no less than 205,506 cwts. 



Brine salting or pickling is a method used mainly for Herrings, 

 and is an important industry. The annual Scottish catch of 

 Herrings is in the neighbourhood of 300,000,000 lbs., of which 

 about 70 per cent, is cured in one way or another. The following 

 table for the years 1920 and 1921 gives an idea as to how the 

 catches are dealt with: — 



1920 1921 



Consumed fresh . . 70,028,800 lbs. 61,105,200 lbs. 



Gutted and salted . 552,828 barrels. 457,552 barrels. 



Ungutted and salted . 20,735 ?> 9)326 „ 



Kippered . . . 253,483 „ 174494 .. 



Bloaters and "reds" . 14,700 „ 10,036 „ 



Canned . . . 38,245 „ 4,958 „ 



It is of some interest to note the marked shrinkage undergone 

 by the pickled Herring industry since the recent war. The 

 industry depends almost entirely on the export trade, and with 

 the markets disorganised in many of the European countries 

 consuming pickled Herrings in large quantities, and more 

 especially those of Soviet Russia, which before the war absorbed 



