470 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
“ Owing to the above-mentioned causes the herring catch of 1873 is much inferior to that of 
1872. In that year 14,806 barrels of it were caught by foreign vessels, while 2,956 barrels were 
prepared by the inhabitants. 
“From what I have heard herring was not much more abundant this season than last.”* 
From that time the fleet has been so small as to be quite unimportant, and during several 
recent seasons no vessels have visited the Magdalens for herring. We know of but one vessel that 
engaged in the trade in 1879, and in 1880 it is said that none were employed. According to Mr.- 
A. Howard Clark, herring were plenty at Magdalen Islands in the spring of 1881, when two Glou- 
cester and four Boston vessels brought home 2,500 barrels salted in bulk. They were taken in a 
haul-seine carried by one of the fleet, all of the fishermen assisting in the work of capture. Nearly 
all of the fish were landed in Boston. 
The Newfoundland and Labrador herring fisheries are so wholly different from those just 
described that it is difficult to give any statistics of the quantity of pickled herring brought home 
by American vessels. The fish being present during a greater part of the year, the fleet visiting 
these localities for other species often bring home partial cargoes of herring, and no vessels can be 
said to be regularly engaged in the pickled-herring trade with either place, though a few vessels 
fit out for trips to some of the principal harbors whenever they chance to be otherwise occupied, 
provided, of course, that the condition of the herring market will warrant such a venture. From 
our limited information on the subject we would say that from six to ten cargoes, aggregating 
3,000 to 4,000 barrels, would be landed yearly by American vessels. This represents, of course, 
only a small part of the herring brought to the United States from these places, as the various 
transportation lines bring considerable quantities and a number of cargoes are brought by the 
fishing vessels of the provinces. In addition to these, American vessels are engaged in running 
frozen herring during the winter months. The following table, compiled from those given under 
oath before the Halifax Fishery Commission, by James S. Hayward, assistant collector of Her 
Majesty’s customs at St. John’s, Newfoundland,t shows the quantity of herring imported into the 
United States from that island each year from 1851 to 1876, inclusive :{ 
Herring. Herring. 
Year. Year. 
Barrels. Value. Barrels. Value. 
1851......- 2, 538 $6, 134 || 1864....... 22, 512 $81, 043 
1852....... 9, 259 15, 000 || 1865....... 34, 633 121, 216 
1853. ....-- 6, 640 18, 326 || 1866......-. 40, 957 122, 871 
1854....... 2,166 4,939 || 1867....... 87,418 | 112, 254 
1855....... 8, 904 29, 968 || 1868....... 40,199 120, 597 
1856....-.. 6, 652 22, 824 |) 1869....... 87, 651 112, 053 
1857....... 18, 478 55, 430 || 1870....... 19, 833 70, 332 
1858. ...... 21, 247 63, 739 || 1871....--. 31, 863 95, 589 
1859......- 80, 123 72,299 || 1872. .....- 26, 551 79, 653 
1860......- 27, 460 65, 904 || 1873....... 35, 664 106, 992 
1861....... 22, 550 55,120 || 1874....... 26, 701 63, 503 
. | 1862....... 13, 251 81, 800 || 1875....... 45, 208 106, 724 
1863....... 85,736 | 120,072 || 1876....... 28, 875 96, 647 
ExPorRT TRADE.—For many years the fish dealers of several of the larger cities have been 
“Sixth Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries of Canada, 1872~73. Appendix B, pp. 55-56. 
+See Documents and Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, 1877. Vol. II, pp. 1509-1518. 
{In the original tables no nienticn is made of fresh or frozen herring prior to 1872, but they were probably in- 
eluded with the pickled fish up to that time. Since 1872 the pickled fish have been separated from the others, but we 
have combined them so that the table given here may represent all of the herring imported during the period men- 
tioned. 
