June 27, 1878] 



NATURE 



233 



valuable possession to us, as supplying the most favour- 

 able conditions for the development of the cod ova 

 furnished by the South Labrador schools, and thus 

 feeding the great fishing-grounds further south. 



Of late years the salted roe of the cod has become an 

 important article of export, and the preparation of it a 

 considerable industr}', the principal use to which it is 

 applied being for bait. Now in so far as this utilisation 

 turns to account what was previously thrown away as 

 offal, it is clearly an advantage ; but it now leads to a 

 special search for the gravid fish, which are taken in large 

 quantities in shallow waters by seine nets, and in deep by 

 the " bultow." This practice is very strongly reprobated 

 by the United States Commissioner, who justly remarks 

 that it is " precisely equivalent to killing off all the mature 

 hens in a farm-yard before they have laid their eggs, and 

 then expecting to have the stock continued indefinitely." 

 "As well," he continues, "might the farmer expect to 

 keep up his supply of wheat year by year while he con- 

 sumed all his grain, reserving none for seed, and without 

 the possibihty of obtaining it from any other source." It 

 is obvious from v/hat has been already stated that the 

 fisheries of New England must be much more injured by 

 such a practice than those of the Dominion, the recruiting- 

 ground of the former being far smaller in proportion ; and 

 it is also clear that the concession to the United States 

 fishermen of the right to carry on this industry in British 

 American waters is a very valuable one, and that, if made 

 at all it should be placed under conditions which may 

 prevent its being used to the detriment of our own 

 fisheries. 



The habits of the herrhig 2iX&'\n many respects different 

 from those of the cod ; for while the latter is essentially 

 a bottom-feeding fish, the former is an essentially pelagian 

 fish, feeding and s-vimming either at the surface or at any 

 depth at which it finds its best supply of food. This 

 consists sometimes of smaller fishes — sometimes the 

 young of its own kind, but generally speaking of more 

 minute animals, especially Entomostraca and Radiolaria, of 

 which small reddish-brown aggregations, known to Nor- 

 wegian fishermen as aat, are often found floating in the 

 waters frequented by the herring. (I have myself met 

 with these in considerable quantity near the Shetlands.) 



The old notion of the annual migration of the herring 

 from polar to southern waters has been long since aban- 

 doned, in favour of that which recognises in its movements 

 an instinctive direction towards shallower waters at the 

 spawning season. The eggs do not float, like those of 

 the cod ; but sinking in virtue of their greater specific 

 gravity, attach themselves by their viscid envelopes either 

 to the bottom or to anything else with which they come 

 in contact. Ropes drawn through herring-spawn, or 

 merely lying where it is deposited, become so thickly 

 coated with it as to resemble large cables ; and nets let 

 down upon the spawning-grounds become so thickly 

 covered, that in cleansing them the decks of the fishing- 

 vessels are often ankle-deep in spawn. This spawn is 

 very attractive to cod, which are thus lured towards the 

 shore by the abundance of bottom-food left by the 

 spawning "schools " of herring, as well as by the oppor- 

 tunity of preying on the schools themsfelves. 



The productiveness of the herring fishery of the 

 British North American coasts has been rapidly aug- 

 menting of late years, and seems likely to undergo a yet 

 larger increase ; for while it has hitherto been prosecuted 

 only when the fish approach the coast at the spawning 

 season, the knowledge now acquired of its habits will guide 

 the fishermen Avhere to look for it at other parts of the 

 year, and how to take it at different depths. The limit 

 set by temperature to the southern range of the herring 

 has been already adverted to ; and the admission of 

 United States fishermen to British American fishing 

 grounds is likely to become an even greater boon to them, 

 in allowing them to prosecute a winter herring fishery 



along the coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, than 

 it is in enabling them to participate in the cod-fishery, 

 "The fluctuations in North American waters," says Mr. 

 Hind, *'are small in extent compared with those astonish- 

 ing changes which take place in Europe, sometimes 

 causing the ruin of large commercial and fishing com- 

 munities, and leading to general distress. But the 

 permanency of the herring schools in British American 

 seas, the comparatively small size of the schools, and 

 their uniform extent of distribution over an immense 

 extent of coast-line, give them a direct and individual 

 value to our fisheries, greater than is enjoyed even in 

 Norway." 



The spawning of the herring on British American 

 coasts takes place partly in May and June (this being 

 known as the " spring spawning "), and partly in August 

 and September (the "autumn spawning''). The spring 

 and autumn "schools" appear to be quite different ; the 

 period being determined in each case by the temperature 

 of the w-aters frequented by the school. The spring 

 spawning takes place with great regularity on the breaking 

 up of the ice. The young when hatched school together, 

 rarely going out to sea as far as their progenitors, and 

 wintering by themselves apart from the older fish ; not 

 being found in any numbers in the deep bays of the 

 coast of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the northern 

 part of Maine, where the old herrings winter. It seems 

 probable that they do not begin to spawn until they 

 have attained their third or fourth year. The depth at 

 which the " spawning grounds " lie varies considerably — 

 on the Norway coast, according to Boeck, from 10 to 

 150 fathoms. And there is good reason to believe that 

 the occasional abandonment of old spawning grounds is 

 usually due to a change of temperature, and that the fish 

 is to be found at no great distance, probably in deeper 

 waters. 



" It is an important result of scientific inquiry," says 

 Mr. Hind, "to ascertain the extent of the movements of 

 a class of animals which have suddenly disappeared from 

 accustomed haunts, and thrown into hopeless confusion 

 an enormous industry upon which hundreds of thousands 

 are dependent for their daily bread. But what imme- 

 diate relief does it afford, if the discovery establishes the 

 fact that the small downward movement into deeper water, 

 or outward movement into less accessible wintering or 

 spawning grounds, has placed them within reach of 

 fishermen provided with the requisite means of capturing 

 them?" In adapting themselves to such new require- 

 ments, he considers that the United States fishermen 

 show more energy than those of New Brunswick ; but if 

 the latter allow themselves to be beaten in this winter 

 fishing, in spite of the advantages given by nearer 

 proximity to the fishing-grounds, it is of course their own 

 fault. 



The Norwegian herring fishery has of late suffered 

 such a decline, while that of the North American coast 

 has been improving, that out of the million of barrels, to 

 which the catch of the latter is said to amount, no incon- 

 siderable amount is now carried to Sweden in United 

 States vessels. Another source of profit in the capture 

 of the herring is the manufacture of an oil pressed from 

 the bodies of the fish, and the use of the residual "scrap" 

 as manure, under the name of fish-guano. And a vast 

 number of freshly-caught herrings are used as bait in the 

 cod and hahbut fisheries ; the United States fishermen 

 resorting for this purpose to the Nova Scotia and New 

 Brunswick fishing-grounds, as they find a more profitable 

 market at home for the herrings which they catch off the 

 New England coast. There is reason to fear that, unless 

 due attention is given to the preservation of the spawning 

 grounds, the New Brunswick herring-fishery will decline 

 as that of New England has done ; so that the activity 

 of the United States fishermen will not only greatly 

 injure British interests, but will in time come to defeat 



