THE HERRING FISHERY. 425 
increased in importance, and most of the residents built smoke-houses for curing their catch. A 
little later small vessels began to engage in the fishery, and soon twenty-five or thirty sail, includ- 
ing several of the larger craftsy were often anchored in the harbor at the same time. 
The development of the Magdalen herring fisheries had a depressing effect upon the fisheries 
_ of this region, and as the supply from that region increased the local fishermen were obliged to 
turn their attention to other branches of the business. From 1850 the decline of the local fishery 
was quite rapid, and for a number of years no vessels have visited the harbor, though a few of 
the boat-fishermen still net a small quantity of herring, which are reported as still abundant in 
these waters. 
Oasco BAY AND SOUTHWARD.—Though considerable numbers of herring are taken about the 
numerous islands in the mouth of Casco Bay, and at Richmond Island near Cape Elizabeth, the 
principal herring fisheries of the western coast of Maine are confined to the waters in the vicinity 
of Wood Island, lying near the mouth of Saco River, 12 miles to the southwest of the city of 
Portland. This is one of the principal spawning grounds for the herring within the limits of the 
United States, and the fishery is more extensively prosecuted in this vicinity than at any other 
point, except Eastport, where not only large but immature fish are taken. 
Wood Island is the largest of a group of small rocky islands and ledges lying just off the cape 
whieh forms the southern boundary of Casco Bay. It is about half a mile long by less than a 
quarter of a mile wide. Inside of the island is a harbor, which, though it offers fair anchorage, is 
exposed to easterly gales, while farther in is a shoal-water cove affording excellent shelter for the 
fishing fleet. = 
The herring visit this region solely for the purpose of spawning. They arrive in smal] numbers 
about the 20th of September and gradually become more abundant until, a week later, the water is 
literally filled with them. The great bulk of the fish remain but a few days, after which they 
disappear. 
The accounts of some of the early voyagers mention the fact that-herring were very abundant 
in this region, and it is probable that the fishery has been more or less extensively prosecuted from 
the earliest settlement of the country. For the last twenty years the locality has been the favorite 
resort of many of the smaller vessels of the various fishing towns between Cape Cod and Penobscot 
Bay, and, though the fleet has varied considerably from year to year, it has gradually increased, 
until in the fall of 1879 there were, according to the statements of the leading Portland packers, 
fully one handred and fifty sail, with from two to seven men each, engaged in the fishery, the catch 
amounting to nearly 20,000 barrels. The greater part of the vessels are owned at Gloucester, Mass., 
and at Portland, Booth Bay, Bristol, and Friendship, Me. 
About the time the herring leave Wood Island a large school makes its appearance among 
the numerous rocky ledges just south of Cape Ann. On their arrival the principal fishing is at 
Norman’s Woe, at the entrance of Gloucester Harbor, but a little later the herring are more abundant 
off Marblehead, and later still near Boston Light, at the entrance of Boston Harbor. 
Many of the vessels that have been fishing at Wood Island proceed to Cape Ann, and other 
vessels and boats from the region join in the work, so that the water is soon well filled with nets, 
and the catch sometimes reaches upwards of 12,000 barrels during the two or three weeks that the 
fishing continues. 
It is claimed by some that the herring taken here belong to the school that visited Wood Island 
earlier in the season, and that they could readily be followed from one place to the other, a distance 
of over 50 miles. Others insist that the schools are wholly distinct, and that those leaving Wood 
Island have thrown all of their eggs and milt, while the school that visits Cape Ann is “full-roed” 
