PART VY 1. 
THE HERRING FISHERY AND THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 
By R. EpwarpD EARLL. 
1—THE HERRING FISHERY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
1. THE FISHING GROUNDS. 
GENERAL MOVEMENTS OF HERRING.—The natural history of the herring has, perhaps, been 
less thoroughly understood than that of any other of our important food-fishes. 
Pennant was the first to construct a theory with reference to the movements of the herring. 
His theory, which was based largely upon the traditional ideas of the fishermen, was that the 
herring lived in the Arctic seas during the greater part of the year. Here he claimed they found 
an abundance of suitable food, and were entirely free from the ravages of the numerous enemies 
which preyed upon them in the more southern latitudes. He stated that at certain seasons of the 
year large schools gathered from the surrounding waters and soon started on their annual migra- 
tions to the shores of Europe and America. The division of the army that was to populate the 
European seas was supposed to be so extensive as to occupy a surface greater than that of Great 
Britain and Ireland combined. Iv was further claimed that as the schools proceeded southward 
they naturally subdivided into smaller schools or battalions five or six miles long by three or four 
broad. The particular schools that were to visit the waters of Great Britain in summer arrived at 
Iceland in March, and next appeared at the Shetland Islands, where they divided, one portion 
passing directly southward, between Scotland and the Continent, while the other was turned to 
the westward, and after passing Cape Wrath followed the western shore of the island. It was 
thought that each school was led by herring of “unusual size and sagacity,” claimed by some to 
be the alice or twaite shad. This theory, though now amusing on account of its absurdity, was 
generally accepted for many years, and it was not until 1854 that it was overthrown by a more 
rational one. At this time Mr. Cleghorn, of Wick, Scotland, published his ideas of the movements 
of the herring. ” These were so wholly opposed to those of Pennant as to attract universal atten- 
tion, and to call forth considerable discussion, which has resulted in the addition of much infor- 
mation regarding the movements of the fish. 
Mr. Cleghorn’s theory, briefly stated, was as follows: First, that the herring is a permanent 
resident of the waters which it inhabits, and that it never migrates to any distance from a given 
locality; second, that distinct races exist on different portions of the coast ; third, that although 
the quantity of netting now in use is much greater than that formerly employed, yet: the catch is, 
generally speaking, much smaller; fourth, that the yield of the fisheries gradually increased up 
to a certain point, after which it began to fluctuate, and soon decreased rapidly, so that many 
stations that were once prosperous have been abandoned; fifth, that the fisheries were soonest 
exhausted in the vicinity of the larger cities, and among the smaller bays and islands, where the 
fishery could be extensively prosecuted, and that the supply was least affected in the open sea 
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