FISHERIES 



17 



TliP inipurtant HyRtcm of euriiitf liorrinRH in the wet stnto, 

 or, U8 it irt iii()|H'rly chIIiiI, us "wliite lii'iriiigN," is iiiocc I'oiiiiiloti'ly 

 wiiil<i)il 1111 llii! iiUHt count lliiiii on till! went. Tlic wiiolc pioceHH ot' 

 lining IN <:iirii('(i on umiir tin* aU|>i'rviitlciii of tUt: Hnunl of lliititih 



Wliilr III rrliiK KishiTV, wliicli wuh cHliilili.slu'il by the Act, 48 (loo. 

 III. ('. 110 (ItJilH), unu, witli iHtnii^ Mli){lit cliiuip'ii in itn organization 

 nml lulilitionH to itx dnticH, liax continia'il iIh lul'ours to ttiu iiieiient 

 tinii-. ItH |iHrti('.ulur iliitics unt to inN{H!(!t tliu curing, anil to lu^a 

 tliitt tlic |iro|inr rt'i;iilitii(inii uni duly larricU out ; to place tlio 

 Qovoriiinint liranil on tlio liaircls when duHirccI, uocnnlinf^ to thn 

 quiility of the euro ; to s«c^ that the reguliitioiiH for registering the 

 li.-thing hoiilH lire duly attended to ; to niaiiitiiin order on the li-.liiiig 

 groiindH ; to lay out to the lieHt advantage ahpeeial grant of money 

 for iiniiniviiig orhuilding iishery liurKourH ; and to preiiare aceurule 

 ■talis' les of thi^ ti.sheiiu.s. .Many yeais ago curing according to this 

 By.sleiii wa8 done at some of the lOnglisli porLs, — honee the woi-d 

 liritish in the title of the board ; Iml for Kinne little time post 

 "white herrings" have piaelieally only been prepared in ScoUiind, 

 mill the now ordinary mime ot " Fishery noiird, iScolhind," fairly ex- 

 pre.sscs tlie geographical limits within whidi ita duties are performed 

 ttt the present day. The generKl out-door work of the board 

 is jierlbrnied by a body of men who are well known by the title of 

 (isliery ollii ers ; and it is essential that they T'luld have been 

 brouglit Mil OS coopers, au important part of tlieir duties being to see 

 tliat liari'cls ' of a proiier si:<e and make aro used for the packing of 

 the cured her"' and that tliey are S"curely headed and driven 

 before they art ... ..t abroad. The varimis duties these odicers have 

 to perform, and the careful training they have had in them, have 

 resulted in the board gradually obtaining a staff of men by whose 

 intelligence and cxperieiico u vast store of infnrmation about every- 

 tiling connected with the working of the Scotch lisheries has Wen 

 coi.ected. Kacli man is placed in idiarge of a district of the coast, 

 and the detailed rciiorts they make to the secretary form the basis of 

 the valuable and instructive reports of the Coniinissionors of the 

 Fishery Hoard annually presented to rarliiiment. 



The operation of curing the lieiriiigs liegins as soon us they aro 

 landed, and the busy scene which is presented at the large curing 

 stations when this work is going on lias been well described in tha 

 eighth edition ol the Encyclojiwtlia Britannica. 



'' All along the inner littilumr, and in almost every street and quay, 

 of the town of Wick, as well as within many large incioseil yard.s 

 and covered buildings, there aru numerous S({Uiire boxes as big as 

 ordinary-sized rooms, the containing .sides, however, being only two 

 or three feet high. Into these huge troughs the herrings aro curried 

 from the boats as soon as jiossible after they arrive. Tliore they are 

 all tumbled in lielter-skelter, in a long-continued stream of fish, 

 until the boats arc emptied or the troughs are filled. Then come 

 troops of sturdy females of various ages and complexions, each armed 

 with knife in hand, who range themselves around the fihliTy 

 chambers ; the process of gutting immediately commences, and is 

 carried on with such ceaseless and untiring activity that the U'lac- 

 customed eye can scarcely follow the quickness of their manipu- 

 lations. One woman will eviscerate about two dozen of henings 

 in a minute ; and when nearly 2000 of them are working at that 

 rate, with but brief intermission from early morning till the close of 

 day, the amount of disembowelmcnt may be more ea.sily imagined 

 than described. This important process is effected in the following 

 manner. The practitioner takes a herring in her lelt hand, its back 

 lying in her palm, and inserts the point of her knife into the near 

 side of the neck, bearing well down upon the bai^klwne, and 

 making the weapon protrude a little through the other side. She 

 then gives the knife a turn, and pulling ■', outwards and upwards, 

 with an opposing pressure of the tliumb, .le draws forth in the lirst 

 place the gills, stomach, and intestin<il canal, and tosses tlicm into 

 an adjoining barrel. She then inserts the. knife a second time, and 

 by a peculiar twitch removes what is called the crown gut or coecal 

 apiieiidagos and liver. There are thus two actions performed, each 

 of which seems to occupy about a second of time. This v.) the 

 ordinary Scotch practice. The Dutch method is somewhat dilfeient. 

 They leave in tho crown gut, and so with them a single pull siiflices 

 to remove whatever is to be taken away. This hitter method i.s' 

 partially followed in this country, as being best ailupted for the 

 Continental market, wliero it is believed that the crown gut has a 

 powerful influence in improving the flavour of the fish, and where 

 the appearance of the herring is held to be injured if it is removed. 

 These fair gutters usually work together in little companies of two 

 or three, so that while one is filling a measure with her gutted fish, 

 another carries them ofl' to be rmiscd, as it is called, that is, east into 

 vats or barrels, then sprinkled with salt, then more herrings and 

 more salt, and next a brawny arm plunged among them far above 

 the elbow, thus mingling them together, and so on till tho space is 



• When the flih are brouitht on shore from the flshlnic bout*, the qnantity Is 

 •acertalned by a"cran" mi'sHuve. which should hold 45 (tnllons of mipiifid 

 henings; each cr.in of suck flsh Is expected to f rnii-li inungh good cm id iind 

 gutted lienlnjts to fill a •' banel " havlnR a capacltv iif Wi alli.nii.— the ilim'v.noo 

 between the two measures being usually accounted for by tlie broken flth un- 

 •nlttble (or onrtng, ami (be lets space occupied by the gutted flsh. 



fliled. They mav lie a longer or shorter time in thli atnte, aci onling 



to the siipply of lal/iur at command, and the iiiiniediatc necessities 

 of gutting and loiuing ; but the next imiiul step in the routine ia 

 for a third hand to remove those herringH from the second vats or 

 vessels, and re-wilt and pa<;k them carefully, every successive row 

 crossing at right angles tliat which precedes it. Herrings intended 

 for the foreign market are usually arranged with their bucks down- 

 wards, while those for tho Irish market are preferred when packed 

 flat, or more U|<'>n their sides. Kacli row gets a fresh sprinkling of 

 salt until the liarrel is filled. The ''euil of the ciisk is then laid 

 loosely on, the contents Isdiig allowed to settle down, m jtinc, as it 

 is called, lor a time, — which Uiey soondoso coiihiih ruMy h« toailmit 

 ol each cask receiving another row or tW!i, with adilitiomil salt, 

 before being closed by the cooper. The larrels slinnld then 

 be headed up, tightened in the hoops, laid uiion their sides, and 

 placed under cover, so as to lie shaded from the sun's rays, which 

 aro injurious to the fish. They shniild also be rolled half over every 

 second or third day, until they are bung-packed ; which process, if 

 the after iiiteirtion is to receive the olliciiil brand of llio Hoard 

 of Fisheries, must not be sooner performed than after the lapse of 

 ten free days from the date of ca|vtiire." Sir Tliomaa Dick 

 Lauder" thus describes the final operations: — " When the pickle 

 baa been snfiicieiitiy poured otf, a liaiiilfnl of salt, if required, 

 should be thrown around the inside of the biirrels, and the her- 

 rings sliouhl be pressed close to the inside of the casks, iiiiil addi- 

 tional fish, of the same descri|itioii and date of cure, should bfl 

 iiiicked in until the barrel ia pid|K'rly filled ; ul'ler which it should 

 Le flagged, headed, blown, and tightened, and the curing iiiarka 

 scratched upon tho sides. The barrel may then have its pickle 

 poured in, and be finally bunged iiji." 



The cured herrings are aeparat<;(l into four clasaea: — "Full," or 

 fish having large milt or roe— in fact, those which are nearly or quite 

 ready to spawn ; " Maties,"' or fat fish, in which the milt or roe is 

 quite undeveloped ; "Spent," orshotteii, those which have recently 

 spaHiied, and consequently are in very poor condition, having neither 

 the fat of the matics nor the roe of the full fi.sh ; and "ilited," 

 consisting of fish of all kinds, or unassorted. For these four classes 

 the liiiani of Fisheries gives distinct brands, denoting the quality 

 and descrlMlion of fish im each barrel ; but the crown full luand, 



fiven only to "full " fish priqierly cured, is the one in sjiecial request, 

 t denotes the finest production of the system of the Uritish wdiite 

 herring cure. Branding is quite optional on the [lait of the curer ; 

 but in any case this inethod of cm iiig can only be carried on under 

 ispection, and barrels of a particular size must be .sed (or packing 

 the fish in. It is one of the anomalies of the system, however, that 

 although it is nbsolutely forbidden to use barrels of other than a 

 certain sitecilied size, there is not the slightest restriction as to tho 

 quality or condition of the fish to be packed in them, so long as the 

 Goveniment brand is not desired for them. Any refuse fish may lie 

 cured and packed, but the barrel must be of a certain size. The 

 advanta^^es or disadvantages of the branding system have been often 

 discussed, and it has been frequently condemned ns oppnsei' to tha 

 general policy of making the sale of an article I'ependent ^n ita 

 merits alon:i ; 't has been contended that the Government is not 

 justified ill giving a certificate of tho quality of cured lieirings muro 

 than of any other manufactured article, nnu in no other case would 

 such a guarantee bo given. To this it is replied thit there is a de- 

 mand for "white herrings" in numerous and distant Kiiinpean mar- 

 kets ; that without the Uovcniment brand a barrel of herrings would 

 in some places rarely bo sold unless the contents were liist examined ; 

 and that the disturbance and exposure of the fish would lessen tbeir 

 value when they were ultimately unpacked at the end [lo.ssibly of a 

 distant journey. They may pass through many hands before they 

 finally reach the consumer, and each person would be anxious 

 to satisfy himself of their quality. There is no doubt that the 

 brand facilitates the sale under such circumstances, but at the 

 same time it cannot be disputed that thousands of barrels are sold 

 on the Continent every year with no other guarantee than that of 

 the eurer's name. Up to the year 1859 no charge was made for 

 branding ; but since then a fee of fouiiH'iice iier barrel has been paid, 

 and the inoceeds |iractically count against the expense of the board. 

 It was believed in some quarters that the alleged value of the brand 

 was really not so great as to make the cureis willing to pay for it, 



' Dirertlont for taking and eurinfi naringn, and .for Ihe curing of Cod, Ling, 

 Tunk. and Hake, bv ,Sli Thomas Dick Liindcr. Hart., Eillnhu «li. IRIH. 



» " Matics" is acovniptlon of the I'u'ch niaatjn. the term npiilicil to herrings 

 In which the roc Is sinull or undeveloped. Its slKiiltlintiii', linvvcvcr, Is doubtful, 

 and the nearest appro ich we can flnil (o llio wind Is maalje (tVinc iiiaal), a small 

 measure, which It seemed mlRht possllily refer tn tlie -mull «l7.e of tlie nnde- 

 yelo)ied milt or roe, as compared Willi ilic bulky propoitluiis of iliosc oiRons In 

 the full flsh. nut I ur Inqnirles on tho nulijei t from lue lioi I Ics, both In EiiKland 

 ami ihe Nethcrland.i, l.iive failed to elicit any dellnliu cxpianatlim. The Dutch 

 aepiiiatc their licnlnRs Into three classes, as we do, accoiiKni? to the condition of 

 the reprndiicihe orrans vis :— ' VoM," full of roe: '• Mii.it JcV' with the roe un- 

 developed; ani '• Y'.en." empty or slmtten. Mantjet arc iieiieially fat flsh, but 

 hcrrlHRS are In thut cnndltliin only wlicii the iiie Is vciy siiiull. As the breeding 

 soiison advances, the lat Is (neliiHlly nli.iinlicil 'ind the H-h bccoiiie eo'/; and 

 when the spawn, then full; matured, is duiKisliud, .lie herrings are vailed |ff<n,ai 



emptr. Q 



