PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
391 
this be done the cur«id tish are likely to have a dark color and the llesh be broken and 
loose, especially near the backbone. This is also noticeable in hsh caught on trawl 
lines when stormy weather prevents the overhauling' of the trawls for two or three 
days. Care should also be taken not to bruise the tish any more than is necessary 
and to protect them from the sun by means of tarpaulin or otherwise, if they are not to 
be dressed for several hours. It would improve the appearance of the cured product if 
the fish were bled as soon as practicable after removal from the water, but this is not 
a common practice in the New England fisheries, except in the vessel hand-line fishery, 
when the tongues are cut out, which is more particularly for the purpose of keeping 
count of each man’s catch. The blood is subject to putrefactive action much more 
readily than the flesh, and if it remains in the pores it causes the color of the flesh to 
turn dark. The additional trouble of bleeding the fish would be slight, it being done 
by cutting the throat and the large vein near the neck bone. 
A dressing gang on the usual Grand Banks vessel consists of a “throater,” a “gut- 
ter,” and a “ splitter.” The first named, taking the fish in his left hand by the head and 
resting it on its back on the edge of the tub, makes a transverse cut across the throat 
immediately behind the gills, with a strong, sharp-pointed knife. Introducing the knife 
at this opening, he cuts down the belly, laying open the abdominal cavity, and making 
also one cut on each side downward he separates the head from the sides. Then by 
pressure simultaneously upon the head and the body, the neck resting on the edge of 
the tub, he breaks off the head from the body at the first vertebra. The gutter, taking 
the fish, opens the abdominal cavity with his left hand and with his right hand tears 
loose and removes all the organs contained therein. The livers are thrown into a 
separate receptacle, while the stomach and other organs are with the heads thrown 
into the sea or into the gurry pen on the deck, whence they are discharged into the 
sea on changing the berth of the vessel. 
The fish then passes to the splitter, who is provided with a knife rounded at the 
end and with the blade slightly curved flatwise. With the back of each fish braced 
against a cleat or batten nailed on the splitting board, he makes a long incision down 
the ventral surface, continuing the opening made by the throater, and also makes 
a straight, clean cut along the left edge of the backbone to the tail, inserting the knife 
no deeper than is necessary for cutting out the backbone. With a horizontal stroke he 
cuts through the backbone about two-fifths of the distance from the tail and loosens 
it so that he can catch the end in his fingers. Grasping this with his left hand he 
cuts under it toward the head of the fish and separates the upper three-fifths of the 
backbone from the body, the lower two-fifths remaining in the fish. In this operation 
the knife should be pressed close to the backbone, so that no flesh adheres thereto, 
otherwise the fish will be thin through the back. In dressing pollock nearly all of the 
backbone is removed because of the large quantity of blood along the bone. The 
French curers leave more of the backbone in the fish than is customary in America 
and elsewhere, and to remove the blood in the remaining portion they use a small iron 
spoon. The cut through the backbone should be horizontal toward the head, passing 
through two or three vertebra, and it should not be deep enough to damage the muscles 
lying along the backbone and thus weakening the lower part of the fish. 
After removing the sounds or air bladders the backbones are discarded. Sounds 
sometimes sell at such a low price that it does not warrant saving them and they are 
discarded with the backbones. A slight incision should be made along the remaining 
part of the backbone to iiermit the escape of any blood that may remain. 
