THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 341 



tive offered the fishermen is to cut open their seine. Sometimes the dead fish carry the net with 

 them to the bottom. When there are more than enough fish in the seine to fill the vessel to which 

 it belongs, and there is danger that they may be lost, other vessels which are near often take the 

 surplus fish. In such a case, writes Mr. Babson, one-half the value of the fish is paid to the 

 captors. 



In calm or moderate weather, fishing is carried on from dawn till dark, though morning and 

 evening seem most favorable. In rough weather the nets are not easily set, while the fish usually 

 swim farther from the surface and cannot be seen. Cold northerly and easterly winds seem to 

 affect the fish, causing them to sink toward the bottom. Southerly winds seem the most propi- 

 tious. 



Mr. Dudley states that in the fall, during the southward migration, the fish play at the surface 

 with a northwest wind. 



THE BEST TIMK FOE SEININO. The early morning is apt to be the stillest part of the day, and 

 a large part of the fish are taken at that time. 



So far as we can learn, the motions of the fish are not particularly affected by the tides, except 

 that, like the Clupeidw, they prefer to swim against strong tides and winds. An impression seems 

 to hold among the fishermen that rather better success attend s fishing on the flood-tide. This is 

 no doubt the case where gill-nets are in use, for in localities where the fish have not been fright- 

 ened off shore by constant fishing they like to play up into coves and bays with the rising tide, and 

 are then easily taken by the gill-nets and the pounds or weirs. 



Where the purse-seines are worked in deep water off the shore, as on the coast of Maine, little 

 attention need be paid to the tides ; but where they are used in bays or channels where the tide 

 has much head, there is a practical difficulty in using them except at or near the time of slack 

 water. In a swift current the seine is liable to accidents from being caught on rocks or other 

 obstructions, or may be capsized or pulled out of position. In Narragansett Bay, the difficulties 

 of this kind appear to be particularly great. According to Mr. Church, it is not uncommon for a 

 gang to work all day without success, their net being capsized every time it is set. 



GILL-NET FISHING. 



Besides the purse-seine, which is the chief apparatus of capture, gill-nets, set-nets, and haul- 

 seines are also employed along some parts of the coast. On the New Jersey coast gill-nets are 

 shot ahead of the fish as they are swimming along and they are thus easily captured. This method 

 is called gilling. Sometimes an ordinary haul-seine is used, the fish being dragged ashore. 



Before the introduction of the purse-seine, gill-nets were the chief means of capture. Until 

 within a few years most of the menhaden fishing east of the Penobscot Eiver, in Maine, was 

 carried on with gill-nets. These nets were usually of No. 12 to 14 4-thread twine, of 3 to 4 inch 

 mesh, and from 30 to 180 feet in length by 10 to 24 feet in depth. Two men in an open sail-boat 

 could tend a dozen of these nets, which were set in the night by being anchored in favorite haunts 

 of the fish. 



MENHADEN WEIRS. 



In former years there were a few menhaden weirs along the Maine coast. In the pound-nets of 

 Martha's Vineyard and other parts of the coast large quantities of menhaden are sometimes taken, 

 but these nets are set specially for other species. The menhaden thus taken are generally sold for 

 bait. Col. Theodore Lyman has given a very graphic account of the capture of bait menhaden in 

 Vineyard Sound : 



