2 88 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



are used for bait, and they constitute an important item in the diet of other fish that 

 are of great economic importance. The catches have fluctuated greatly from year to year, 

 but they have not always provided a criterion of the supply available. In America, at 

 least, the catches have often been governed by demand and profit. Therefore the fishing 

 efforts from year to year have not been uniform. Through 1952, the annual catches 

 on the American side have fluctuated between 172,000,000-359,000,000 pounds,'* 

 the major part of the catch from Canada and Newfoundland. The catch in Europe in 

 1948 was 4,150,000,000 pounds (1,881,713,000 kilo; 24: 6), and in 1956, the latest 

 year for which information is conveniently available, it was 5,858,650,000 pounds 

 (2,590,715,000 kilo). European waters, in short, have yielded annually something like 

 15 times the catch (in pounds) taken in American waters. However, the apparent dis- 

 crepancy in relative productivity does not loom so large when we note that the bulk 

 of the American catch is concentrated within a latitudinal belt of about 8° 30' at most, 

 while the European catch is distributed along something like i9°3o', or a distance 

 nearly 2.5 times greater. 



Small fish, 75— 125 mm or so in length, are canned in large quantities as sar- 

 dines, not only in Norway but along the easternmost coast of Maine and in the region 

 of Passamaquoddy Bay at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy on the New Brunswick side; 

 these last account for the concentration of Atlantic Herring landings there. Elsewhere 

 the American catch consists chiefly of the "fat" and "spawn" stages. Some of the large 

 ones are consumed fresh, others are salted or pickled, some are salted and smoked in 

 various ways, and still others are canned. 



The three principal types of smoked Herring are the kipper, bloater, and red her- 

 ring. The kipper is split down the back, Immersed In brine for a very short period of 

 time, slightly dried, and then smoked for several hours. The bloater is cured without 

 splitting, only the belly being cut open for cleaning; It is lightly salted and smoked 

 only long enough to dry the flesh. The red herring, like the bloater. Is not split, but It 

 is much more heavily salted (buried in salt for at least five days) and then smoked for 

 ten days or so. Thus the last is a fairly durable product, which can be shipped to distant 

 markets, whereas the kipper and bloater are perishable. The several curing processes 

 are practiced much more extensively In Europe than in America and are sometimes 

 carried out aboard fishing vessels. Large quantities are also frozen, to be used as bait 

 by the hand-and-long-line fishermen: for example, 32,000,000 pounds in Canada (In- 

 cluding Newfoundland) in 1954. While corresponding information is not conveniently 

 available for the United States, this time-honored method of fishing Is now far out- 

 stripped by the otter trawlers. The landings by line fishermen in Maine and Massa- 

 chusetts in 1954 were 9,000,000 pounds, the greater part of which was hooked on 

 frozen herring. The offal at the canneries and occasionally surplus catches of whole 

 fish are reduced to oil, fish meal, and fertilizer. 



Fluctuations in Abundance and Catch ; Year-Classes. It Is notable that a fishery such 

 as the one for this species in European waters, exploited for centuries, has apparently 



18. Statistics from publications issued by the governments of the respective countries named. 



