[11] GILL-NETS IN THE COD FISHERY. 275 



even under such unfavorable circumstances nearly n tliousand pounds 

 of fish were caught on one occasion. This seemed to indicate that nets 

 of sufficient strength might be used to good advantage, at least on some 

 of the smoother fishing grounds along the coast. 



These preliminary trials, therefore, having demonstrated that nets 

 could be employed advantageously in the American cod fisheries, Pro- 

 fessor Baird availed himself of the first chance that offered for obtain- 

 ing definite knowledge of the methods of netting cod in Norway, with 

 the intention of disseminating this information among American cod 

 fishermen. 



The opening of the International Fishery Exposition at Berlin, Ger- 

 many, in the spring of 1880, presented a favorable opportunity for ac- 

 comj^lishing this purpose. Professor Baird, having appointed me as one 

 of the Commission to attend the exposition on the staff of Prof. G. Brown 

 Goode, desired that I should make a careful study of the foreign methods 

 of deep-sea fishery as represented at the exhibition. The method of 

 capturing cod with gill-nets, as practiced by the Norwegian fishermen, 

 was mentioned as a subject which should receive especial considera- 

 tion. 



In the meantime Professor Baird offered to lend the nets to any re- 

 sponsible fishermen who would give them a fair and thorough test. 

 But the fishermen were conservative and hesitated to adopt any -'new- 

 fangled notions" for catching fish. This disinclination to try the new 

 method was due chiefly to the fact that fishermen cannot usually afford 

 to spend any time in making experiments, especially when they feel 

 fairly confident of good returns by continuing in their old ways of fish- 

 ing. 



Mention has been made of the introduction and trial of cod gill nets 

 by the United States Fish Commission in 1878, but no attempt was made 

 by the fishermen to use them until the fall of 1880, when Capt. George 

 H. Martin, of Gloucester, Mass., master of the schooner Northern Eagle, 

 fitted out with them for the winter cod fisheries off' Cape Ann and in 

 Ipswich Bay. The immediate cause which led to this trial was the dif- 

 ficulty of getting a supply of bait, the procuring of which is a source of 

 considerable trouble to our shore fishermen, and its cost, even when ob- 

 tainable, is such a heavy tax on this branch of the fishing industry that 

 often the fishermen hesitate to engage in it, fearing that the result may 

 be a loss rather than a gain. It was to obviate this difficulty aboiit bait, 

 and to render our cod fisheries more valuable in consequence, that led 

 Professor Baird to bring the cod gill-nets to the notice of the Ameri- 

 can fishermen. The bait principally depended on by the shore fisher- 

 men in the vicinity of Cai)e Ann during the fall and early winter is 

 young herring {Glupea harengus), known as the " spirling." The appear- 

 ance of these fish about the cape is somewhat uncertain; sometimes large 

 schools remain for several weeks, and at other times but few can be 

 taken. There was so little probability of getting a supply of bait in the 



