THE FROZEN-HERRING INDUSTRY. 451 
Tn seining the fish the captain usually takes his position in the bow of the seine-boat while the 
crew are employed in rowing the boat along within a few rods of the shore. The herring are de- 
tected by means of small bubbles rising to the surface. As soon as these are seen, one end of the 
seine is made fast to the shore, after which it is “shot” around the fish and the other end is again 
brought to the land. The net is often hauled across the mouth of a small cove and the fish are 
readily confined until such time as the market offers or until the weather becomes cool enough for 
freezing them. Again, after the ends of the seine are brought to the shore it is frequently anchored 
and the fish confined within its walls for several days, until they can be satisfactorily disposed of. 
The fish are seldom if ever hauled upon the beach, but the seine is hauled in until the fish are 
confined in a small space, after which they are dipped out and boated to the vessels or to the 
shore, as the case may be. 
The catch is often very large, sometimes reaching upwards of a thousand barrels at a single 
haul. 
The fish ‘‘strike in” in great numbers at certain seasons, and, unless taken at once, are apt to 
pass up under the ice out of reach of the nets, and many are thus frequently lost. 
Many of the poorer fishermen who do not own seines, and who are not hired by the seiners to 
engage in the fishery, provide themselves with gill-nets, setting them at night in the ordinary way 
and visiting them early in the morning, sometimes securing a large catch in this way. 
The fish taken are sometimes mixed, several sizes being found in the same school. Such fish 
are seldom bought by the American vessels if large fish of uniform size can be obtained—the diffi- 
culty being in finding a market for the smaller fish—and a vessel bringing a cargo of mixed fish to 
the United States finds it difficult to dispose of them except at reduced rates. 
METHODS AT NEW BRUNSWICK.—In the New Brunswick fisheries the herring are taken ex- 
clusively in gill-nets, no seines of any kind being used. The fishermen gather from different places 
along the coast of New Brunswick and from the nearer fishing towns on the coast of Maine, 
remaining in the locality until the close of the season. Most of them have small vessels, which 
serve as a home and on which they dry and mend their nets. These are usually anchored in some 
cove convenient to the fishing grounds or in the lee cf some island, where they remain until 
enough fish have been taken to be carried to Eastport or elsewhere for a market. The vessels 
engaged in this fishery vary in size from 5 to 40 tons. They are among the poorest vessels 
engaged in the fisheries of the American cvast, a portion of them being only partially decked, 
with small cuddies forward for eating and sleeping. Others are the old-style sharp and square 
sterned vessels that have practically become worthless for the other fisheries. 
Many of the New Brunswick fishermen live on the shores in the immediate locality, and use 
only small boats for engaging in the work. 
The vessels are provided with the ordinary reach-boats, 15 to 20 feet in length. These are 
locally known as net-boats, and are worth about $40 each. The number varies from one to five, 
according to the size of the crew. The crews of the vessels average only four or five men, though 
they vary from two to ten. In the larger vessels one man remains on board to keep things in 
order and to do the cooking, while the remainder are engaged in catching the fish. In the smaller 
vessels all are engaged in fishing, and each takes his turn in cooking the food. Two men go in the 
same boat to set, tend, and haul their nets. 
They usually leave the vessel about three in the afternoon for the purpose of setting, and on 
reaching the grounds set their nets in 8 to 25 fathoms of water, sinking them to a depth of several 
feet below the surface. The nets are allowed to remain until the following morning, when they are 
visited, hauled, and carried to the vessel, where they are picked and dried. Formerly several nets 
