420 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



From these premises he reached the conclusions that the former fluctuations and recent decrease 

 in the yield is due to overfishing. 



Numerous other ichthyologists have written extensively of the movements of the herring in 

 later years, and others have devoted considerable attention to the classification of the genus 

 Clupea; but even now the whole subject is in confusion. Many of the leading European authorities 

 claim that there are a number of distinct species inhabiting the European seas, and some of them 

 have gone so far as to assign special names to the different schools. Mr. J. M. Mitchell says that 

 different schools of herring have a different look, and that such peculiarities are noticeable that 

 practical men can distinguish between them. Mr. Bertram, in his Harvest of the Sea, says: 



"It has been deduced, from a consideration of the figures of the annual takes of many years, 

 that the herring exists in distinct races, which arrive at maturity month after mouth; and it is 

 well known that the herring taken at Wick, in July, are quite different from those taken at Dunbar 

 in August or September; indeed, I would go further and say that even at Wick each month has 

 its changing shoal, and that as one race ripens for capture another disappears, having fulfilled its 

 mission of procreation." * 



Most American writers, on the other hand, recognize but one species of herring, this being the 

 Clupea harengus, the common herring of both Europe and America. Some of the American fisher- 

 men, however, claim that though the large fish are all undoubtedly of the same species, the small 

 herring, which are in some localities called " brit," and in others " spurling," are quite different, 

 and that they never grow to any considerable size. Others, on the contrary, insist that these small 

 fish are but the young of the common herring, and that there is no more difference between them 

 than is noticeable between the young and adult of any other species. 



In America, the herring occur from the coast of Labrador on the north to Cape Cod, and 

 occasionally even to New Jersey on the south, and there are extensive spawning and feeding 

 grounds for the species along various portions of the coast; while immense schools of them are 

 often seen by the fishermen at different seasons of the year on many of the outer fishing banks. 

 It is claimed, however, that they invariably resort to the inshore grounds for the purpose of 

 spawning, though the fact is not yet fully established. 



THE SPAWNING SEASON. In America, as in Europe, there is considerable uncertainty as to 

 the time of spawning. The Fish Commissioners of Scotland, after having collected a largo 

 amount of valuable information, arrived at the conclusion that " herrings spawn at two seasons 

 of the year, viz, in spring and autumn. They have no evidence of spawning during the solstitial 

 months, viz, June and December, but in nearly all the other months gravid herring are found, 

 and the Commissioners assert that the spring spawning certainly occurs in the latter part of 

 January, as also in the three following months, and the autumn spawning in the latter end of 

 July, and likewise in the following months up to November. ' Taking all parts of the British 

 coast together, February and March are the great mouths for spring spawning, and August and 

 September for the autumn spawning.'" In America, also, the herring spawn at various seasons 

 of the year. On the south coast of Newfoundland they spawn between the middle of May and 

 the first of July. They usually approach the shores of the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence, during the last week in April. They visit this locality wholly for the purpose of 

 spawning, and leave as soon as the eggs have been deposited, which usually requires from three 

 to five weeks. 



About the time of their departure from the Magdaleus, schools of spawning fish make their 

 appearance at the western end of Cape Breton Island. They are first seen in the vicinity of Port 



* Harvest of the Sea, page 164. 



