The Common Herring 



mate made by Professor Huxley, the number taken every year 

 out of the North Sea and Atlantic is at least 3,000,000,000, with 

 a weight of at least 1,500,000,000 pounds. This estimate is 

 probably too low. Carl Dambeck estimates the average yield of 

 herring in Norway from 1850 to 1870 at 1,452,000,000 pounds, 

 and the annual yield on the Swedish coast has been put at 

 300,000,000 pounds. In 1873 the catch on the Scotch coast was 

 188,000,000 pounds, which employed 45,494 men, using 15,095 

 boats. In the same period 15,331 boats were used in the 

 English fisheries. If to these we add the yield on the coasts of 

 Ireland, Germany, Belgium, France and America, the total is 

 enormous. But 3,000,000,000 herring is probably no greater than 

 the number contained in a single shoal, if it covers half a 

 dozen square miles, and shoals of much greater size are on 

 record. And, according to Professor Huxley, there must be 

 scattered through the North Sea and the North Atlantic, at one 

 and the same time, scores of shoals, any one of which would 

 go a long way toward supplying the whole of man's consump- 

 tion of herring. 



The herring is found in the temperate and colder parts of 

 the North Atlantic. On our coast it has been found as far 

 south as Cape Hatteras, though it is not abundant south of 

 New England. It rarely enters brackish water, but spawns in 

 the sea. Unlike many other fishes, the herring, as well as 

 other species of Cliipeida;, are regarded as particularly delicious 

 at spawning time, and most of the herring fisheries are carried 

 on when the fish are in full roe. The herring fishery in 

 America is entirely a shore fishery. With the exception of a 

 few occasionally taken for bait by the line fishermen on the 

 banks, our herring are all caught in the immediate vicinity of 

 the shore. Although the herring fishery in America has never 

 assumed the importance which it has long held in Europe, the 

 herring is probably no less abundant here than on the other 

 side of the Atlantic. The principal herring fisheries on our coast 

 are north of Cape Cod, and Newfoundland is the most northern 

 point where important fisheries are located. From the Bay of 

 Fundy to Cape Cod the fishing-ground is practically continuous. 



The herring fisheries are carried on chiefly by means of 

 brush weirs, gillnets, and torching. The latter method is the 

 most primitive, and is saia to be effectual only after the 



97 



