PACIFIC HERRING 
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6, 7, and as high as 9 strips being used. The meshes are 1 % inches and occasionally 
1 % inches. 
Most of the purse seining is done at night, but occasional good hauls are made 
in daylight, especially in the Kodiak-Afognak district. The seine boats arrive at 
the fishing grounds about dusk and cruise slowly about with a man always on watch. 
He discovers the presence of a school of herring either by seeing them “flipping” at 
the surface, or, if it is too dark to see, by hearing the gentle splashing. The herring 
“flip” best at dusk and just before dawn. Sometimes when the herring are not 
“flipping” the fishermen resort to “leading.” A man rows slowly about in a small 
skiff, dragging a very fine line, to the end of which is attached a heavy piece of lead. 
This holds the line taut and perpendicular, so that one can tell when the line is 
passing through a school of herring by feeling the line jerk as the herring strike 
against it. 
When a school of herring is located one of the crew jumps into a skiff, which the 
seine boat is towing, and releases the end of the seine from the seine boat. The 
weight of the skiff is now pulling on the seine, which commences to play out over 
the roller in the turntable, the man in the skiff meanwhile pulling backwards with 
his oars to keep the cork line tight. The seine boat sets the net in a circle and purses 
it as quickly as possible to prevent the herring swimming out underneath. (Fig. 1.) 
The net may then be hauled in slowly until the fish are crowded enough to brail into 
the boat with a large dip net. (Fig. 2.) 
If the fish contain too much “feed ” to salt immediately, or if the haul is too large 
for the plant to use in one day, the fish are impounded, conditions permitting. In 
this case the net is pulled in far enough so that the herring will not get it tangled 
into bags and smother themselves but not far enough to crowd them, for overcrowding 
causes them to lose their scales and die in the pound. 
The pound has usually been placed in readiness beforehand, and the seine boat 
blows its whistle to summon its towboat to come and tow it to the pound. The 
towboat may be almost any small gas boat or discarded seine boat. A bridle is 
attached to the bow and stern of the seine boat and it is towed sideways toward the 
pound dragging the seine full of herring. On reaching the pound the edge of the 
seine is attached to the edge of the pound, the two cork lines are held below the 
water, and the seine pulled into the boat, forcing the herring into the pound. There 
are usually a number of seine boats fishing on the same ground, so that whenever 
one makes a set it turns on a red light as a warning to other boats not to run over 
the seine. These lights are usually arranged to help the towboat in identifying its 
own seine boat in the dark. 
If the herring contain “red feed,” which is composed of small crustaceans, they 
are left a few days in the pound before being used. This gives them time to clean 
themselves of the feed which would otherwise cause them to spoil when pickled. 
Occasionally the herrings’ stomachs contain “black feed” composed of pteropods. 
When this is the case they are extremely difficult to cure, even after several days in 
the pound, and do not bring the highest prices. 
By impounding herring the plants are able to have a constant supply of fish, 
which enables them to make a larger pack. However, impounding has disadvantages 
from the standpoint of conservation. When the wind and tide are unfavorable, or 
when the haul is made too far from the pound, there is great danger of the herring 
