426 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
on its arrival. No careful study has been made of this subject, as the opportunity has not yet 
presented itself; but it seems more than probable that the whole coast from Seguin Island, at the 
eastern entrance of Casco Bay, to Boston will prove to be one continuous spawning ground for 
enormous schools that remain at a considerable distance from the shore, and approach it only in 
the fall for the purpose of depositing their spawn, after which they return to the deeper water 
outside, and that there are particular relations between currents and temperature and the move- 
ments of the fish that cause them to visit the northern portion of the ground nearly two months 
earlier than they do the waters about Boston. 
The theory advanced recently that the herring, unlike the shad and alewife, spawn on a falling 
temperature is very naturally suggested by the habits of the fish in this locality, but when we 
remember that the herring spawn in April and May at Magdalen Islands, in midsummer at Grand 
Manan, and probably in March at Eastport, Me., there is abundant reason why this theory should 
be rejected. 
South of Boston there are no extensive herring fisheries, and there is no particular locality 
where the fish are known to be abundant. According to Mr. F. W. True, a few are faken in the 
weirs along the shores of Cape Cod, and Mr. W. A. Wilcox reports an occasional catch in the weirs 
of Narragansett Bay. Both of these gentlemen, however, state that no one makes a business of 
catching the herring, and that most of those taken while fishing for other species are used for bait 
by the local line-fishermen or sold to the Cape Ann vessels that resort to the region in spring to 
purchase menhaden and alewives to be used in the George’s Bank cod fisheries. 
2. VESSELS AND CREWS. 
THE VESSELS AND OUTFIT.—As has already been stated, there is not a single vessel belonging 
to the United States that is engaged regularly in the herring fisheries throughout the year, since 
they are not considered sufficiently remunerative to warrant the fishermen in devoting any consid- 
erable portion of their time to them. During the spawning season, however, a large number of 
small vessels of an inferior grade, that have been engaged in shore trawling, or to a limited extent 
in the coasting trade, are fitted out for this work. These proceed carefully along the shore from 
harbor to harbor until they reach the fishing grounds. Some are considered nearly unfit for the 
other fisheries and lie idle during the greater part of the year, their trip for herring in the fall 
being their principal work. The poorer class of vessels, though scarcely seaworthy, can be 
employed to advantage in the herring fisheries, as they remain constantly in or near the harbor, 
where they can be securely anchored during stormy weather, while the fisheries are prosecuted 
from small boats that go daily to the fishing grounds. The vessels serve principally as a home 
for the fishermen and as a storehouse for receiving their catch; and they are also used for carryihg 
the fish to market at the close of the season. 
These vessels range from 5 to 40 tons, the larger ones going a distance of more than a hundred 
miles from home either for the purpose of catching or marketing their fish. Even the smaller 
vessels frequently go from 50 to 75 miles away, though their captains are very careful to wait for 
a favorable opportunity, often anchoring in a convenient harbor a number of times on the passage. 
The value of these vessels depends upon their size and condition, the price varying from $150 
to $1,000. 
In preparing for this fishery the vessels lay aside their trawls and other fishing gear and 
supply themselves with gill-nets, after which they proceed to some of the principal fishing ports, 
where they are supplied with barrels and a sufficient quantity of salt for preserving the catch. 
