2822 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



unlike the shad and mackerel, which spawn at a rising temperature. 

 The moment the water along our coast gets to a certain degree of tem- 

 perature, then the herring is incited to the act of spawning. I might 

 say in completion of this point that herring spawns in the spring in Bay 

 St. Lawrence and Newfoundland. It spawns in early summer at Grand 

 Manau in July, August, and September. It spawns at the end of Sep- 

 tember in Eastern Maine, and it spawns in October off Boston, and does 

 not spawn till November and sometimes December at No Man's Land. 



Q. Making a difference of many mouths ? A. Yes, a difference of 

 from six to eight months. 



Q. Describe the modes by which herring are caught on the coast of 

 the United States. A. They are caught principally by weirs, pounds, 

 and gill-nets on our coast. They are caught with seines largely in Bay 

 St. Lawrence and Newfoundland, but the large, full-grown, spawning 

 herring are usually taken in gill-uets on or near the spawning ground. 

 A very large number are taken on the whole coast of Maine and in the 

 Bay of Fundy in weirs, but the great body of these are* smaller herring, 

 and are not used as fresh fish. 



Q. How is it with weir fishing? A. The weir fishing is generally 

 , conducted in Maine, and to some extent inside of Cape Cod to the north. 

 South of Cape Cod they are more generally taken in pounds, but also 

 in gill-nets. 



Q. How are they taken along the Massachusetts coast ? A. They 

 are taken, generally, in gill-uets in the fall. The regular pounds are 

 usually not down as late as the herring seasou, but in spring large num- 

 bers are taken in the pounds. 



Q. How do you feel sure that this statement about spawning on the 

 coast is correct ? A. By actual capture of the fish in the spawning 

 season, and by dredging up their eggs from the bottom with apparatus 

 we use for such purposes. 



Q. Is herring a very common fish on the United States coast ? A. It 

 is exceedingly abundant. It is not utilized at all to the extent of the 

 capacity. The herring is not a very favorite fish, it is a cheap fish, and 

 as there are so many better fish on the coast it is not very marketable 

 for food. It is sold in great quantities but at very low prices, and is 

 used only by the poorer classes of the community. Of course it is used 

 for bait, but as fresh fish it is very seldom seen on the tables of the well- 

 to-do people. 



Q. Is it dried and pickled ? A. They are pickled to some extent. 

 Some are smoked, a great many are worked up in the form of bloaters, 

 and in this form it is very much sought after. 



Q. You have been at the places where the business is carried on f 

 A. I have seen 20 or 30 large boats, of a capacity of perhaps 500 barrels 

 or more, filled with herring, lying at the wharf at Boston at one time. 

 They are boats probably from 4 to 10 tons. 



Q. Market boats ? A. They are open boats, known as herring boats, 

 and the coast now is lined with the boats with gill-nets catching herring 

 for the fall trade. 



Q. Have you anything to say about the predaceous fish, such as the 

 shark and dogfish ? Do you think they do a great deal of harm to the 

 food-fish ? A. They constitute a very important factor in the question 

 of the abundance of fish on our coast. They destroy enormous weights 

 and quantities of all the useful fish, and in proportion as they increase 

 in numbers the food-fish diminish and rice versa. They perform the 

 same function as bluefish ; they are constantly in the pursuit of other 

 fish and destroying them. 



