1853] 



NORTH AMERICAN FISHERIES. 



117 



have grown to their present magnitude within a very few years. 

 The vessels employed for this purpose from Newfoundland now 

 number three hundred and forty-one, and the men ten thousand. 

 The annual yield of the seal-skin is 500,000, valued at £50,000, 

 and of seal oil over six thousand tons, valued at £170,000. In 

 the early spring when the ice begins to descend, they leave the 

 island in vessels hardly large enough for a Thames yacht, and 

 force themselves into the floating fields as far as they can. They 

 gather in the "game" (rather than the "catch") from all sides, 

 stripping off the flesh and the fat, and leaving the. coarse meat 

 behind. It is not difficult for one who is familiar with the sea 

 to picture the peril of such an occupation — the floating masses of 

 ice tossing about on the restless ocean, the little craft wedged in 

 among it, and liable at any moment to be crushed — the fearful 

 storms descending from the Arctic — the hurricane dashing the 

 snow over the deck, and clothing the rigging with sleet — the toss- 

 ing waters severing the loose ice and piling it in fragments — and 

 above all, the prevailing northeast gales, driving the whole mass 

 towards the mainland, and threatening instant destruction to all 



The codfisheries also upon the Labrador coast have become 

 very valuable, and are in the hands of the Newfoundland and 

 United States fishermen. It is estimated " that about twenty 

 thousand British subjects are at present required during the fish- 

 ing season, in the catching, curing, and transporting the various 

 products of these remote seas." The cod fishermen arrive on the 

 coast in the latter part of May, and early in June, and anchoring 

 in some quiet place, where they may ride in safety, they send out 

 their boats, with a shipper and a man in each to look up the fish. 

 If after search, none are found, or not enough to make it worth 

 while to stay, they change their anchorage, until they find them- 

 selves in good waters. The fishing is carried on by boats, which 

 return to the vessels with their catch, and the cleaning and curing 

 is generally done by a portion of the crew who are taken for that 

 purpose. Frequently British vessels take two "fares " in a season, 

 in which case the second load is cured at home. 



The other cod fisheries are at Cape Breton, Prince Edward's 

 Island, Magdalen Islands, and the Bay of Chaleurs, in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, and in the Bay of Fund}', and about Nova Sco- 

 tia and New Brunswick. The descendants of the French Aca- 

 dians, whose memories are embalmed in Longfellow's Evange- 

 line, still clad, according to Mr. Sabine, in the peculiar costume of 

 Normandy, feebly prosecute the fisheries of the Magdalen Islands 

 and of the Bay of Chaleurs in boats. The valuable waters which 

 surround Cape Breton are turned to even less account. 



The disputes between the United States and the British Go- 

 vernment grow out of alleged aggressions on the Nova Scotia and 

 New Brunswick fisheries. Nova Scotia, the Acadia of Evange- 

 line, is perhaps the richest fishing ground in the world. It is 

 surrounded with deep bays and harbours, swarmed with every 

 species of the piscatory creation, that come to the very door of the 

 fisherman's hut. He is thus enabled, at little expense, to take cod 

 with boats and lines, and mackerel with sieves and nets, under 

 the shore, safe from the reach of the storm aud the swell of the 

 Atlantic, and ought with an expenditure of the least possible 

 energy, to drive out of the market the foreign competitor, who is 

 obliged to fit out a large vessel, bring it a long distance, and is 

 then not permitted to fish within three miles from the shore. 

 But instead of entering into a manly competition, he enacts a 

 stringent law against poaching, and calls upon the Home Go- 

 vernment to enforce it, which is done in a very prudent manner, 

 while he does little, according to Mr. Haliburton, but " eat, drink, 

 smoke, sleep, ride about, and lounge at taverns." The Bank 

 fisheries are nearer to this Province than to any other, the cod and 

 mackerel lie on the Bhore for their exclusive catch, the shad, the 



salmon and the herring'ascend their rivers, and yet they employ 

 but ten thousand men in the business, and their exports offish are 

 less than £200,000 a year. They have most especially advanta- 

 ges for taking the mackerel, which come from the south in large 

 shoals in the latter part of May and early in June, and make into 

 the narrow inlets and the straits of Canso, on their way to the 

 Bay of Chaleurs, to spawn. The Americans are obliged to catch 

 this fish in the deeper waters with the hook ; but the colonists 

 have the advantage of taking them in the shallow waters off the 

 shore with nets and sieves." To secure two, four, six, and even 

 eight hundred barrels at a time, it is only necessary to set a sieve 

 to tend it, and at the proper moment to draw it to the shore." 

 They exported in 1851 a hundred thousand barrels of mackerel, 

 or about one half of the whole catch of the same fish in Massa- 

 chusetts the year before. 



The American mode of catching this fish by line, is enthusi- 

 astically described by Mr. Sabine : — 



" The master of the vessel after reaching some well-known 

 resort of the fish, furls all his sails except the mainsail, brings his 

 vessel low to the wind, ranges his crew at proper intervals along 

 one of her sides, and, without a mackerel in sight, attempts to 

 raise a school, scool or shoal, hy throwing over bait. If he suc- 

 ceeds to his wishes, a scene ensues which can hardly be described, 

 but which it were worth a trip to the fishing ground to witness. 

 I have heard more than one fisherman say that he had caught 

 more than sixty mackerel in a minute; and when he was told 

 that at that rate he had taken thirty-six hundred in an hour 

 and that with another person as expert, he would catch a whole 

 fare in a single day, he would reject the figures as proving nothing 

 but a wish to undervalue his skill. Certain it is that some active 

 young men will haul in and jerk off a fish, and throw out the 

 line for another with, a single motion, and repeat the act in so 

 rapid a succession that their arms seem continually on the swing. 

 To be ' high-line ' is an object of earnest desire amongst the am- 

 bitious ; and the muscular ease, the precision, and adroitness of 

 movement which such men exibit in the strife are admirable. 



Oftentimes the fishing ceases in a moment, and 



as if put an end to by magic: the fish, according to the fisher- 

 man's conceit, pane-stricken by the havoc among them, suddenly 



disappear from sight The approach of night, or 



the disappear nee of the mackerel, closing all labour with the 

 hook and line, the fish, as they are dressed, are thrown into casks 

 of water, to rid them of blood. The deck is then cleared and 

 washed ; the mainsail is hauled down, and the foresail is hoisted 

 in its stead ; a lantern is placed in the rigging ; a watch is set to 

 salt the fish, and keep a look out for the night; and the master 

 and remainder of the crew at a late hour seek repose. The ear- 

 liest gleams of light find the anxious master awake, hurrying for- 

 ward preparations for the morning's meal, and making other 

 arrangements for a renewal of the previous day's work. But the 

 means which were so successful then failed now, and perhaps for 

 days to come; for the capricious creatures will not take the hook, 

 nor can all the art of the most sagacious and experienced induce 

 them to bite." 



A word about the Bay of Fundy, and we have made the tour 

 of the fishing-grounds. The fisheries within this bay are carried 

 on by boats from the shore, and are deemed to be less important 

 than those on the sea side of the Peninsula. The men engaged 

 in them are poor and thriftless, and are so scantily paid for their 

 dangerous occupation, pursued on a stormy coast, with tides of 

 fearful height and velocity, that they have little temptation or 

 opportunity to become anything better. The shore fisheries of 

 the States and the Colonies here touch each other; but there is, 

 strange to say, little jealousy between the subjects of Her Majesty 

 and the " free and enlightened citizens " of the Republic, and the 



