192 THE WEALTH OF THE SEA 



dock, feeding near the sea bottom, this fish has 

 become very plentiful, with the result that many more 

 are now salted than formerly. The average annual 

 catch of the mackerel has diminished greatly during 

 the past decade, whereas the price has steadily in- 

 creased. For these reasons a much smaller quantity 

 is now salted. The salting of alewives or river herring 

 is still an important industry in Boothbay Harbor, 

 Maine, Havre de Grace, Maryland, Reedville, Vir- 

 ginia, and Edenton, North Carolina. Many mullet 

 are salted along our South Atlantic coast. Formerly 

 many shad were salted, but this fish is now so valuable 

 that few are preserved in this manner. 



The three important fish-salting industries of the 

 Pacific coast deal with herring, salmon, and cod. 

 Salmon salting is carried on mainly in conjunction 

 with the salmon-smoking industry. Most of the salted 

 salmon are shipped either to New York or Germany, 

 where they are freshened and smoked. Salmon salted 

 primarily for smoking are called mild cured. 



, The Smoking of Fish 



The methods employed in the present-day fish- 

 smoking industry are much the same as those which 

 were used thousands of years ago when savage man 

 smoked and dried his surplus fish over an open fire, 

 except that the process has been commercialized. 

 Now the fisherman seldom smokes his own fish, for 

 smoking is a business carried on on a large scale. 

 Smoke-houses holding as many as one hundred thou- 

 sand fish are sometimes employed for the smoking 

 of herring. 



