PACIFIC COD FISHERIES 437 



kenches settle additional fish are placed on top to keep the com- 

 partment full. 



A great deal depends upon the thoroughness with which the work 

 of salting is done, as it is important that every part of the fish shall 

 receive a share. If the salting is well done, it is not often that the 

 fish need to be rekenched ; but if the salt is used too sparingly or is 

 unevenly applied, souring may start, which necessitates moving 

 whole kenches and resalting. Sometimes the effort is made on the 

 Atlantic coast to salt a little slack in order to make the fish heavy 

 on reaching port, with the result that the whole catch may be lost. 

 Slack salting, owing to the length of the trips and the fact that the 

 fishermen would not benefit because of the increased weight of the 

 fish, is rarely ever attempted on this coast. As the fish lose their 

 moisture from salting, it runs to the bottom of the hold and is 

 pumped out. About 21 sacks of salt (weighing 100 pounds each) 

 are used to 1,000 fish when in kench. 



Soured fish have a peculiar odor, not very different from that of 

 sauerkraut. Those accustomed to handling the fish become expert 

 in recognizing this trouble and can pick out the infected fish 

 instantly. 



Much is said by the fishermen about the practice of dressing the 

 cod on the banks and throwing the gurry overboard, and it is 

 claimed that the gurry decays on the bottom and the taint drives 

 the fish away. As sand fleas (amphipod custaceans) are very 

 abundant on the inshore and offshore banks, these scavengers, to- 

 gether with sculpins and other bottom feeders, speedily remove every 

 particle of edible meat from the gurry, thus preventing any possi- 

 bility that the water may become polluted. Should a couple of days' 

 stormy weather prevent fishing, the sand fleas will be found to have 

 almost caught up with the accumulation of gurry, while at the 

 seasonal stations, the usual large pile of gurry has been reduced to 

 a comparatively small heap of bone absolutely cleaned of all flesh 

 a month after the season closes. 



SHORE-STATION METHODS 



The methods followed by the shore stations are somewhat different 

 from those in use on board the vessels. 



The shore fishermen usually rise between 3 and 4 a. m. in summer 

 and between 4 and 5 a. m. in winter. After breakfast the men row 

 out to the near-by banks in their dories. From 9 to 12 they straggle 

 in with varying numbers of cod, depending somewhat upon luck but 

 mainly upon how well the fisherman knows the " good spots " and 

 the persistency with which he has fished. The dories in use hold 

 from 180 to 220 fish, depending upon then" size. A dory containing 

 220 fish could be handled only in calm or fairly calm weather, as it 

 would be so low in the water as to ship a sea at every lurch in rough 

 weather. 



Upon reaching the station the fish are pewed from the dory into a 

 box fastened to the side of the wharf midway between the top and 

 low water. From here the fish are pewed onto the dress-house floor 

 (the dress house is either at the end of the wharf or midway of the 

 same), while the agent or his representative keeps the tally as the 

 fish are thrown upon the floor. 



