THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 689 



The dip-iiet fisheries for alewives are next iu importance to the weir fisheries. It is by this 

 method that the alewives are taken at Damariscotta Mills, Warren, East Machias, and Dennys- 

 ville. The dip-net is a very economical piece of apparatus, and requires no very expensive fixtures, 

 but for its effective use it is essential that all the alewives shall be compelled to pass a narrow or 

 difficult place within reach of the nets. This only happens in rivers where their spawning grounds 

 lie above tide-water, aud where obstructions, natural or artificial, exist. 



The form and construction of the dip-net vary considerably in different localities. Those found 

 of late in use at Damariscotta and Warren have~wo~oden bows bent into an oval form 2 feet wide 

 aud seized on to wooden handles, the bag being knit of coarse cotton twine aud hung about 3 feet 

 deep; they are plied in narrow basins or artificial iuclosures which the fish are allowed to enter. 

 At East Machias, where the fish are dipped directly from the open river, they use larger nets 5 

 feet deep, hung on a steel bow 3 feet in diameter, at the end of a pole from 10 to 17 feet long. 

 Platforms are erected at points most convenient for dipping; generally along-side a pool just 

 below an obstruction, where the fish congregate. It is necessary that the water be swift and 

 somewhat broken, otherwise the fish will dodge the net. Upon the platform are also the tubs or bins 

 into which the fish are thrown as they are dipped. These fisheries are operated almost wholly 

 in the afternoons of pleasant days. In cloudy weather the alewives are very backward about 

 attempting the ascent past difficult places, and at night they invariably fall back into quiet pools, 

 where they lie uutil the next day is well advanced. The run of fish lasts about a month, but the 

 most of the catch is often effected during a single week at the height of the season. 



The alewife fisheries have in numerous instances been from an early day held as municipal 

 property by the towns in which they are located. They have been generally, if not always, 

 appropriated in accordance with an enabling act of the legislature, which describes in detail the 

 way in which they shall be managed. In some cases, the towns are to choose "fish committees," 

 who shall capture the fish, personally or by proxy; in other cases the privilege of taking them is 

 to be sold at auction to the highest bidder, but in either case it is generally provided that citizens 

 of the town shall be allowed to buy limited quantities of fish at a fixed price, and certain poor 

 people are supplied gratis. If there is a surplus the committee or the lessee can dispose of them 

 as they see fit. These .town fisheries in most cases nominally include also salmon and shad, but 

 on the small rivers both of those species have long since been practically exterminated. 



UTILIZATION. Alewives are used as bait for deep-sea fisheries to a small extent, but by far 

 the greater part are used as food for man. The prevailing methods of curing, are, first to salt 

 and smoke them, second, to pickle and afterwards pack them in" barrels. The former method is 

 generally regarded as more profitable for fishermen who are able to retail the products of their 

 fisheries, and is therefore most employed by them, each man having a little smoke house of his 

 own. Where great quantities are taken by one party, as by the lessees of the Damariscotta fish- 

 eries, they are barreled and sent to the wholesale markets. On the Keuuebec, about seven-eighths 

 of the alewives caught are smoked and consumed locally, and smoking has been the prevalent 

 mode of curing for many years. On the Peuobscot, at Bucksport, previous to 1830, the most of 

 the alewives were pickled, but the practice of smoking came into general use shortly after that 

 date and has for many years entirely supplanted pickling. 



For smoking, alewives are first prepared by salting lightly in a large tub, without scaling or 

 any other dressing ; they are treated with about 8 quarts of salt to a barrel of fish. Some add 2 

 ounces of saltpeter. In three days the fish are sufficiently "struck," and they are then, after 

 rinsing in clean water, impaled on straight sticks of split cedar or spruce, which are thrust through 

 the gills, ten on a stick (formerly twelve), and hung up in the smoke house. On the ground beneath 

 SEC. v 44 



