376 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



LANDED AFTER A LONG FIC.ITT. 



sand shark, also a voracious fish feed- 

 er. While all the larger varieties are 

 destroyers of food fish, by far the most 

 common and numerous are the "dog" 

 fish, which swim in schools or packs 

 in pursuit of their food 



These destroyers are of two varieties, 

 the "smooth" dog and the "picked" 

 dog, the former being very abundant 

 south of Cape Cod and ranges in size 

 from two to three feet. The picked 

 dog ranges chiefly on the upper New 

 England coast and is somewhat small- 

 er than the smooth dog, but what it 

 lacks in size is made up for by num- 

 bers. No doubt the reason why we 

 should feel the effects of the depreda- 

 tions of these submarine destroyers of 

 our eatable fish to the extent that is at- 

 tributed to them is that, with exception 

 of very limited organized fishins: for 

 them chiefly by the State of Maine, 

 there is no effort made to use or de- 

 stroy them. 



In England there is a well organized 

 fishery for these varieties. The livers 



furnishing oil, the skin being used in 

 place of sand paper for certain uses, 

 while parts of the flesh are dried and 

 sold on the markets and known as 

 "Falkstone" beef. 



On the coast of Russia, Lapland, 

 Norway and parts of Greenland, the 

 shark fisheries are of importance. 

 Particularly in Norway is the indus- 

 try carried on extensively by a large 

 fleet of vessels of from twenty to thirty 

 tons burden. These boats go as far as 

 I GO to 150 miles oft" shore and fish in 

 water to the depth of 250 to 300 fath- 

 oms, the hooks being baited with salt 

 seal flesh, and when the fish is hooked, 

 it requires the efforts of three men to 

 drag in the quarry by main strength 

 until its head is above water, when 

 another man proceeds to knock the fish 

 on the head with a large wooden mal- 

 let. 



Generally speaking, the method on 

 our coast for taking the larger varie- 

 ties is to still fish using a large hook 

 baited with salt pork attached to a line 

 about the size of a common clothes line, 

 generally made fast to a convenient 

 post or spile, then when the bait is 

 taken, the fun begins. Attaching a 

 baited line to a small floating keg is 

 another method, but in this case a 

 launch in attendance is necessary in 

 order to. chase up the keg when the 

 fish hooks himself. A great many 

 large sharks are now taken for sport 

 by the use of the ordinary tarpon rig, 

 consisting of a heavy rod and reel, 

 holding as much as 600 yards of line. 



As shark fishing and in particular, 

 for the "dog" fish variety has never 

 been followed up as a business, except 

 off the coast of Maine and Nova Scotia, 

 there will be a lot to learn as to their 

 habits and the best and surest way of 

 getting after them with the sole object 

 of their extermination as far as such is 

 possible. It is one thing for a com- 

 missioner to make plans to rid the seas 

 of these pests who are devouring one 

 of our most important table supplies, 

 ■ — but it is altogether another proposi- 

 tion to accomplish this, — first it is no 

 small matter to catch and destroy the 

 vast numbers, considering that the 

 "original crop" so to speak, has never 

 been depleted to any extent by man. 



Along the New England coast the 

 sharks and dog fish have become so 

 numerous during the past season that 

 all kinds of fishing has been very poor. 



