INSHOEB FISHERIES 201 



Anticosti, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There are 

 several distinct branches of industry arising from the 

 herring fishery, according to the use that is made of them. 

 These will be treated as the frozen herring industry, the 

 smoked and pickled herring industry, and the sardine can- 

 ning industry. 



The frozen herring industry of New England, which has 

 laid the foundation for the prosperity of the deep-sea fish- 

 eries of the country of late years, was begun by Capt. H. 

 0. Smith, of Gloucester, in the winter of 1854 and 1855. 

 The first trip was made from Newfoundland, consisting 

 of a mixed cargo of codfish, halibut, and 80,000 frozen 

 herring. This venture to Newfoundland in the middle of 

 the winter season was in the nature of an experiment; but 

 the business proved to be so successful from the first that 

 it has been followed more or less successfully ever since. 

 The first dozen years from its inception the industry was 

 confined to Newfoundland herring. The second year of the 

 trade, four vessels made trips aggregating 730,000 fish that 

 were brought back. Year by year the number of vessels 

 engaged in this branch of fisheries kept increasing until the 

 winter of 1863 and 1864, when a fleet of 39 vessels brought 

 10,700,000 frozen herring from Newfoundland. The total 

 number of herring brought from Newfoundland down to 

 1866 and 1867 was about 60,000,000^ 



During that season there were 45 vessels comprising the 

 frozen herring fleet, one of them going for the first time 

 from Gloucester to the herring grounds of Grand Manan, 

 in the Bay of Fundy. At that time the Gloucester fisher- 

 men hesitated to visit that region on account of their 

 prejudice against net herring, the higher price demanded for 

 the fish, and the smaller size of the herring when com- 

 pared with those of Newfoundland. But the fleet soon 

 found it more profitable to make short, quick trips to the 



i Goode, History and Methods, I, p. 458. 



