BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 161 
46.— THE AMERICAN SARBIIVE INDUSTRY I1V 1886. 
My R. EiWAKD EARLL and HUGH M. SMITH. 
SYNOPSIS. 
I. Early History of the Industry. 
II. Present Status of the Business. 
III. The Weir Fisheries. 
The weirs. 
Profits of weir fishing. 
Movements of the herring. a. 
Fishing the weirs. 
The weir-boats. 
The regulation of the weir fisheries by 
the Canadian Government. 
Prevention of damage to weirs from mov- 
ing ice. 
Use of large weir herring for smoking and 
bait. 
Fishing season for sardine herring. 
Interference of squid and mackerel with 
weir fishing. 
IF. Torching and Seining for Herring. 
Torching. 
Seining. 
V. Transfer of Herring from the Weirs to the 
Canneries. 
Unit of measure. 
The collecting-boats. 
Prices of fish and wages of fishermen. 
Methods of collecting the fish. 
Proportion of American and Canadian fish 
consumed. 
VI. The Canneries and their Products. 
Description of canneries. 
Methods of preparation. 
Changes in manufacture. 
Cost of preparation. 
Wages paid. 
Shipments ard markets. 
Dependence of Eastport and the sur- 
rounding country on the sardine in- 
dustry. 
VII. International and Economic Questions In- 
volved. 
Effects of termination of treaty of 
Washington. 
Unfriendly action of Canadian Govern- 
ment. 
Present needs of the sardine industry. 
Probable effect of collecting import 
duty on Canadian fish. 
VIII. Statistics of the Industry. 
Table of persons employed. 
Table of apparatus and capital. 
Table of products. 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
In view of the important questions arising out of the fishery trade 
between the State of Maine and the Province of New Brunswick, that 
had been pending since the expiration of the Treaty of Washington and 
prior thereto, Prof. Spencer F. Baird, then United States Commissioner 
of Fish and Fisheries, deemed it advisable to have at hand available 
for reference full and accurate information on this subject. Accord- 
ingly, in the fall of 1886, Mr. R. Edward Earll was instructed to proceed 
to Maine and make as extensive an inquiry as the time would permit 
into the effects of recent legal procedures on the mutual fishery interests 
of the adjoining countries, especially the sardine, smoked herring, and 
frozen-herring trades, and the condition and needs of these industries. 
The investigation of the American sardine business was naturally the 
most important topic under consideration, and the accompanying report? 
which, in the absence of Mr. Earll, has been prepared under my direc- 
tion from his field notes, is the result of that inquiry. Mr. Earll was 
ably assisted in the field-work by Mr, Merwin-Marie Snell, to whom 
Ball y, S* F* 0, 87— —IX 
