T VI. 



THE HERRING FISHERY AND THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 



BY E. EDWARD EARLL. 



1. THE HERRING FISHERY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



1. THE FISHING GROUNDS. 



GENERAL MOVEMENTS OF HERRING. The natural history of the herring has, perhaps, been 

 less thoroughly understood than that of any other of our important food-fishes. 



Pennant was the first to construct a theory with reference to the movements of the herring. 

 His theory, which was based largely upon the traditional ideas of the fishermen, was that the 

 herring lived in the Arctic seas during the greater part of the year. Here he claimed they found 

 an abundance of suitable food, and were entirely free from the ravages of the numerous enemies 

 which preyed upon them in the more southern latitudes. He stated that at certain seasons of the 

 year large schools gathered from the surrounding waters and soon started on their annual migra- 

 tions to the shores of Europe and America. The division of the army that was to populate the 

 European seas was supposed to be so extensive as to occupy a surface greater than that of Great 

 Britain and Ireland combined. It was further claimed that as the schools proceeded southward 

 they naturally subdivided into smaller schools or battalions five or six miles long by three or four 

 broad. The particular schools that were to visit the waters of Great Britain in summer arrived at 

 Iceland in March, and next appeared at the Shetland Islands, where they divided, one portion 

 passing directly southward, between Scotland and the Continent, while the other was turned to 

 the westward, and after passing Cape Wrath followed the western shore of the island. It was 

 thought that each school was led by herring of "unusual size and sagacity," claimed by some to 

 be the alice or ticaite shad. This theory, though now amusing on account of its absurdity, was 

 generally accepted for many years, and it was not until 1854 that it was overthrown by a more 

 rational one. At this time Mr. Cleghorn, of Wick, Scotland, published his ideas of the movements 

 of the herring. These were so wholly opposed to those of Pennant as to attract universal atten- 

 tion, and to call forth considerable discussion, which has resulted in the addition of much infor- 

 mation regarding the movements of the fish. 



Mr. Cleghorn's theory, briefly stated, was as follows: First, that the herring is a permanent 

 resident of the waters which it inhabits, and that it never migrates to any distance from a given 

 locality; second, that distinct races exist on different portions of the coast; third, that although 

 the quantity of netting now in use is much greater than that formerly employed, yet the catch is, 

 generally speaking, much smaller; fourth, that the yield of the fisheries gradually increased up 

 to a certain point, after which it began to fluctuate, and soon decreased rapidly, so that many 

 stations that were once prosperous have been abandoned; fifth, that the fisheries were soonest 

 exhausted in the vicinity of the larger cities, and among the smaller bays and islands, where the 



fishery could be extensively prosecuted, and that the supply was least affected in the open sea. 



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