FISH AND FISHERMEN 



When a shoal of mackerel in full flight from a shark 

 encounters the "leader, 11 it hesitates, wheels, and swims 

 steadily alongside the net wall till it is caught in the maze 

 prepared for it. But shore- weirs, take them how you may, 

 are even more destructive to the fishery than the purse- 

 seine, for hundreds of thousands of mackerel can be caught 

 in the course of a few days ; and the sooner such a waste- 

 ful method is entirely abolished the better. 



There is one more way in which the mackerel may be 

 caught again an importation from Europe ; that is by 

 means of hook and line. All sorts of bait have been 

 tried, but experienced mackerel-anglers say that none is 

 so satisfactory as a bit of scarlet flannel, cloth, or ribbon, 

 tapering downwards to a point. As there is no marine 

 animal, so far as one knows, of which such bait could be 

 an imitation, it may be assumed that this is yet another 

 instance of the inquisitiveness of fish upon which scientists 

 have so often remarked. 



Next in importance to the mackerel, where the States 

 coast-fishery is concerned, is the herring ; and the catch- 

 ing of it is one of the special industries of the shore 

 people of Maine and Massachusetts; but, as the next 

 chapter deals specially with this fishery as carried on in 

 Europe, we shall here only touch upon such points as 

 are peculiar to the American branch of it. Gill-nets, 

 such as we saw used on the Banks for cod, are frequently 

 employed, though the buyers are much against the use 

 of them ; for they say that the redness round the eyes 

 of herrings is caused by the strangulating effect of the 

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