708 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



tide, as then the herring are concentrated 

 and may be more readily secured. The 

 fishermen enter the weirs in boats, set a 

 seine and haul its ends together, and then 

 take out the fish with huge dip-nets. In 

 some places the fish are left dry by the 

 receding tide, and may be gathered by 

 hand or with pitchforks. From 200 to 

 400 brush weirs are operated in waters 

 adjacent to the international boundary 

 between Maine and New Brunswick. 

 They supply herring for bait, smoking, 

 salting, and canning, and often yield very 

 large profits to their owners. The unit of 

 measure in this fishery is the hogshead, 

 holding fifteen bushels, and many hun- 

 dreds of hogsheads — sometimes several 

 thousand — may be taken in a single weir 

 in the course of a season. 



$20,000 WORTH OF HERRING CAPTURED BY 

 ONE WEIR 



Upward of $20,000 has been received 

 for the herring taken in one fortunately 

 located weir, and there is a record of a 

 weir on the Canadian side of Passama- 

 quoddy Bay which was leased by Ameri- 

 cans at an annual rental of $2,000, with 

 a bonus of $3 for each hogshead of fish 

 caught ; yet, notwithstanding this seem- 

 ingly exorbitant price, the lessees, before 

 the close of the first season, were able to 

 pay three years' rental in advance, owing 

 to the large catch and high prices of 

 small herring. 



The prosperity, if .not the very exist- 

 ence, of the herring weir fishery on the 

 northeast coast depends on the presence 

 of a large number of canneries at East- 

 port, Lubec, and other places on or near 

 the Maine border, where herring are con- 

 verted into "sardines." Weirs have also 

 been constructed along the central and 

 western districts of Maine in order to 

 supply raw material for canneries and 

 smoke-houses, and large catches are often 

 made at points remote from the center of 

 the herring industry. It is recorded that 

 in October and November, 1908. a brush 

 weir in the Bagaduce River near Castine 

 took 20,000,000 small herring — a quan- 

 tity so large that no local market could 



be found and the catch had to be sent to 

 places as far eastward as Lubec. 



THE AMERICAN "SARDINE" 



The most valuable branch of the Amer- 

 ican herring industry is the canning of 

 small herring under the name of "sar- 

 dines." The business began in 1875, pre- 

 ceded by six or seven years of experi- 

 mental work, and has continued up to the 

 present time. The factories are located 

 at suitable points along the entire Maine 

 coast, but are most numerous on or near 

 the eastern boundary, for reasons else- 

 where stated. These factories give em- 

 ployment to many thousand men, women, 

 and children ; utilize immense quantities 

 of heiving that would otherwise find 

 little market, and produce a wholesome 

 food that for many years was marketed 

 largely under French labels, but is now 

 sold under its proper name and on its 

 own merits, with a resulting improvement 

 in quality. 



The most valuable herrings for can- 

 ning are the young, from three to five 

 inches long, suitable for packing in 

 "quarter" cans. The demand for these 

 has at times been so active that fabulous 

 prices — far beyond the real worth of the 

 fish — have been paid. As much as $100 

 per hogshead was given one season, and 

 a price of $30 per hogshead has not in- 

 frequently prevailed ; but, on the other 

 hand, the price has often fallen to $2 and 

 has not averaged more than from $5 to 

 $8. Herring of larger size are put up in 

 oil, mustard, and tomato sauce in "half" 

 and "three-quarter" tins, but the chief use 

 made of the larger fish is for smoking. 

 The Maine coast is dotted with herring- 

 smoke-houses, some independent, others 

 in connection with canneries, and several 

 million boxes of delicious smoked her- 

 ring are there placed on the market each 

 season. 



The New Englanders have not been 

 content with the supplies of herring ob- 

 tainable from home waters, but have for 

 many years engaged in a herring fishery 

 and trade on the shores of the Canadian 

 maritime provinces and of Newfound- 



