8 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The price ot’ roe has varied greatly from year to year. In the early part of the 
eighteenth century, bait was bought for 50 cents to $1 a barrel, and throughout that 
century prices were comparatively low. In the second decade of the last century 
prices reached their highest point; they were apparently never less than $32, and 
ranged from that to $60 per barrel. By 1822 the price had fallen as low as $5 or $6, 
and since then has seldom been as high as $25 or $26, averaging $12 or $15. 
The average price for Norwegian roe recently has been about 35 francs ($7) per 
barrel. In 1900, owing to the failure of the Norwegian cod fishery and the resulting 
scarcity of roe, the price for Norwegian bait rose to 120 francs ($21) per barrel, or 
about 7i cents per pound. The price of American and Newfoundland roe is but little 
more than half that of the Norwegian. In 1900 the best American roe was selling at 
$8.60 a barrel and in the previous year at only $1.60. 
Mackerel roe, which ranks next to cod in quantity used, brings uniformly 10 to 
50 per cent more than the latter. 
The sardine fishermen also use peanut meal or flour to mix with the roe, it being 
much cheaper. It comes in bags holding 75 kilograms, and costs 15 francs a bag. 
Floating lightly and being quite conspicuous, it attracts the attention of the sardines, 
which readily devour it. When they gorge themselves, however, the mass swells so 
as to burst their intestines. The relative quantities of meal and roe used depend on 
the scarcity of roe and the personal preference of the fishermen. The two articles 
are often mixed in about equal proportions, but rather more roe than meal is usually 
employed. In the case of a certain sardine boat in Concarneau, whose operations 
are elsewhere referred to, the bait consumption one season was 7,500 kilograms of 
roe and 6,000 kilograms of meal. 
The following description 1 of the methods of preparing roe for sardine bait was 
issued by the French Government in 1817 for the information of the native fisher- 
men, and applies well to the present time: 
The ovary of the cod or of the other fishes of the same family that are fished for on the same 
bottoms incloses the eggs in a double sac, which is ordinarily thrown into the sea with the refuse. To 
convert these eggs into rogue, several methods can be pointed out. 
The first consists in separating the ovary from the body without tearing the covering, and placing 
it, with the inclosed eggs, on a plank pierced with holes or in an inclined position, or on a .small- 
meshed net, in order that the drying may ensue equally at all points. When this covering is dry, 
several ovaries are brought together and placed in a barrel, the bottom of which is spread with salt; 
and, without pressing them too much, the ovaries are piled one above the other, separated by light 
layers of salt, until the barrel is entirely full. Then it is closed sufficiently tight to prevent the air 
from penetrating into it; otherwise there will ensue a fermentation injurious to the quality of the rogue. 
Another manner of preparation is to put the eggs into barrels without drying them. The layers 
of salt and of rogue are put in alternately, as in the preceding case;, but as the barrel becomes full the 
quantity of salt should be increased. Four days suffice for the rogue to sink; the barrel is filled to the 
top again, and this is continued until the vessel is ready to be closed. To provide for the escape of the 
brine the precaution is taken to pierce several holes in the lower end of the barrel: by this means the 
brine escapes and the rogue forms a mass, which keeps in good condition up to the month of June, 
when the fishermen carry it to Bergen. There the salting is finished by adding a quantity of salt 
equal to the first; the rogue is put into new barrels, which are also pierced, and these can immediately 
be delivered to the merchants, who ship them to France. It is said that formerly the Hollanders 
1 Instruction sur la Maniere de preparer les Rogues de Morue et de Maquereau employees comme Amorces dans la 
Peche de la Sardine. 
