CHAPTER IIIMETHODS OF FISHING

Ling18,500,000Turbot8,600,000Cod4,500,000Flounder1,000,000Sole570,000Haddock450,000Plaice300,000Herring32,000SharkDog fishSkateA few—not morethan a dozen.

Fig. 7HERRING EGGS—×5

Fig. 8PLANKTON CONTAINING FISH EGGS—×3The large egg is that of a plaice: the smaller ones are cod and whiting.The copepod is a calanus.

The eggs of the cod, whiting, haddock, fluke, plaice, etc., are relatively small, varying from1⁄6of an inch in the case of a halibut, to1⁄25of an inch in a flounder. The eggs are discharged into the water by the female. This process takes place gradually, and generally occupies many weeks. A few of the eggs come to maturity at a time, and are extruded. They are fertilized in the water by the spermatazoa of the male, which are discharged into the water at the same time as the eggs. The fish, both male and female, are closely crowded together on the spawning grounds, so that the fertilization of the eggs is fairly complete. With few exceptions, the eggs of most species are buoyant and float to the surface, where they drift in the warm surface water until, happily, they hatch. Unhappily, however, a very large proportion of them never reach maturity, for, either as eggs, embryos or larvae, or post larval young fishes, they soon fall a prey to marauding fish. It is estimated that, of the thirty-two thousand eggs laid annually by each female herring, not more than two reach maturity.

The spawning grounds of the herring are not definitely known. Research is being carried out at present with a view to solving this question. Haddock are to be caught in various likely parts of the sea, marked with the place of capture, and their interiors examined for herring spawn.

Certain demersal fish, notably shark, dog fish and skate, deposit a few large, demersal eggs—about a dozen in the year—in a carefully selected spot. The incubation period of these eggs is unusually long, being from six months to over a year, according to the species and the temperature of the water.

Parental care is exhibited by very few fishes in this part of the world, although many foreign fish buildnests and care for their young, often carrying them in their mouths. Certain kinds of dog fish and angel fish keep their young inside their oviducts until they are completely formed. The only notable example of a fish common to British waters that exercises parental care is the stickleback. Spawn is deposited by a number of different females in a nest constructed of stones and weed, and is guarded by a male until all the eggs are hatched.

The eggs of the crustacea, for example the lobster, are found attached in large numbers to the swimmerets—feathery processes that are situated underneath the tail. When in this condition, the lobster is known as “berried,” and, if captured, should be returned to the sea. The eggs are sticky and are laid while the lobster lies on her back, and so become attached to the hairs of these feathery processes. Berried crabs, prawns and shrimps may also be observed on the seashore in the spring and early summer.

The mollusca, e.g. mussels, periwinkles, oysters, deposit their eggs in the sea-water. The eggs float to the surface, hatch out, and drift about with the other constituents of the plankton. The fully developed larvae fall to the sea bottom and become attached to seaweed and stones.

The period of incubation of fish eggs varies according to the species of fish, and for the same species is prolonged by a low temperature. Plaice eggs, fertilized in January, hatched in eighteen days; others, fertilized in April, were hatched in nine days.

All fish, on emerging from the egg, enter upon a larval stage in which they resemble each other very closely (seeFig. 1). (Thus, the larvae of plaice are quite symmetrical, like those of the cod or other round fish.) The newly hatched larvae drift helpless in the water fortwo or three weeks, during which time they subsist upon the contents of the yolk sac, which they carry attached to their ventral surface. When this is exhausted, they feed upon the microscopic plankton which abound in the surrounding water.

The characteristic forms of the different species of flat fish are gradually assumed by the young fish during the period of their larval development. The appearance of a newly-hatched young plaice exhibits little change during the first week or so, other than that due to the gradual disappearance of the yolk sac. The young fish grows very slowly, and, twenty-one days after hatching, is only 3/8 of an inch in length. For thirty days the development of the young fish is entirely symmetrical. During the succeeding fifteen days, the shape and appearance of the fish become profoundly modified. The left eye gradually moves upwards and forwards, until it attains its final position above and in front of the right eye. At the same time, the fish gradually acquires a new swimming position, finally swimming on what is really its left side. This left side becomes colourless. With these changes in form and habit, there proceeds a transformation in the diet of the fish. At twenty-one days it feeds upon the young stages of various crustacea. Gradually it acquires a taste for copepoda and the larvae of mollusca and crustacea. After its metamorphosis is complete, it feeds upon various worms, small shrimps and small, bottom-living crustacea. The adult plaice feeds upon mollusca of the cockle and mussel families.

The Migration of Fishes.Fishes, like birds, migrate over great distances at certain seasons of the year. In most cases, this migration occurs just before spawning, and is evidently connected directly with the spawning instinct. True marine fishes, such as the herring,haddock, plaice, cod, associate in vast numbers at spawning time, choosing a locality in which the temperature and food supply will be favourable to the development of the young larvae. Generally, the spawning ground is in deep water. The eggs are buoyant, and drift up to the warm surface water and hatch out amongst the plankton. The herring differs from most other pelagic fish in laying its eggs in relatively shallow water, over a rocky bottom covered with seaweed. The eggs are denser than sea-water and are covered with an adhesive substance, so that they sink to the bottom and become attached to the stones and seaweed.

It is at the time of this annual migration to the spawning grounds that the fish are most profitably caught, for not only are they gathered together in large numbers, but, just before spawning, the fat content and general condition of the fish, and therefore its food value, reach a maximum. After spawning, the food value of the fish is at a minimum, and remains comparatively low until a few months before the next spawning.

The plaice migrates in the autumn from the feeding grounds in various parts of the North Sea to the spawning grounds near the Straits of Dover. Spawning takes place between December and March. In the spring and summer it returns northwards to the feeding grounds in the centre of the North Sea.

In the Irish Sea, there are two distinct annual migrations of plaice. The first occurs in summer (from June to September), the larger plaice moving from the warmer, shallow water inshore to the deeper, cooler waters offshore. In winter and spring, (from October to May), the mature plaice migrate from Morecambe and Liverpool bays to the spawning ground in deep water to the North-East of Douglas (Isle of Man).

In winter, also (from November to January), a largenumber of plaice gather in Red Wharf Bay, off the north coast of Anglesey, probably because it is sheltered from the prevailing south-east winds. In February they commence their spawning migration round the coast of Anglesey to Cardigan Bay.

Certain species of fish, instead of migrating from one part of the sea to another, migrate from the sea to rivers (anadromous), or from rivers to the sea (katadromous).

Thus, in the spring or autumn, according to species, the anadromous salmon and shad ascend rivers to spawn. The eggs are deposited on clean gravel in clean water, where they are likely to remain undisturbed. The salmon does not feed when in the river, and after spawning, becomes very thin and in poor condition.

The Alaskan salmon, from which the bulk of American canned salmon comes, exists in five species. It has a similar spawning habit to the British salmon, except that the same species always tends to use the same rivers. Once having spawned, the fish dies, so that the parents never see their offspring. The young larvae hatch out in the fresh water and make their way to the sea, where they pass the whole of their lives until they are mature, some years later, and then, in their turn, ascend the rivers to spawn.

Eels are normally fresh-water fish. After living for six or seven years in rivers and ponds and streams, they become mature and migrate to the sea to spawn. This spawning always takes place in deep water (over five hundred fathoms), the particular region chosen depending upon the species. Eels from the British Isles and North-West Europe spawn in deep Atlantic, some hundreds of miles west of Ireland. In the autumn, the mature eels move down the rivers to the sea. When approaching maturity, the yellowish coat of the eel changes to silver. These “silver” eels pass into thesea and are never seen again. It is probable that the eel only spawns once in its life and then dies. The spawn floats to the surface and hatches out into curious little transparent, leaf-shaped larvae. These larvae develop rapidly into elvers and commence the return journey to the shores and rivers. In the spring, the young eels ascend the rivers in enormous swarms. Many of them leave the rivers and travel over damp ground and grass to isolated pools and lakes. It is probable that the eels that are found in the Thames travelled overland from the Severn.

The Baltic flounder migrates in winter from rivers and estuaries to the open sea, and spawns in spring in deep water. It returns in the summer when the spawning is over. By observing the movements of marked fish, it has been shown that the fish move at an average rate of from three to four miles per day. During its seaward migration, the flounder takes no food, but uses the material stored up in its tissues for the development of its reproductive organs.

In addition to these spawning migrations, there are migrations that are prompted by a search for food, or for warmer or colder water.

In northern and temperate seas, the surface water grows warmer with the spring. This warming influence spreads northwards from the equator, producing what is known as the annual wave of sea temperature. A direct result of the rise of temperature and the increased sunshine is a rapid increase in the amount and quality of the plankton. It is not surprising, therefore, that fish migrate in the wake of this annual wave of sea temperature, attracted by the increased food supply, and possibly, also, by the warmer water.

The mackerel is a southern fish, and prefers the warm water of the Mediterranean and West African coast. Inspring, as the wave of rising sea temperature travels northwards, it migrates to the English Channel and the North Sea. This migration is often directly associated with the presence, in large quantities at that season, of a particular kind of copepod in the surface water of the English Channel.

Phosphorescence.Many marine creatures, ranging from deep-sea fish living in the dark abysses of the ocean to various species of the minute plankton drifting in the surface water, possess phosphorescent organs, which emit light of low intensity similar to that of a glow-worm and firefly. In many cases the light appears to possess some important function, and highly specialized organs are developed. In such cases the light is only emitted in response to some stimulus—thus, the phosphorescence of the surface water of the sea, when disturbed by the blade of an oar, is due to the disturbance of myriads of minute planktonic organisms, equipped with phosphorescent organs, either protozoa or protophyta; many pelagic copepods are phosphorescent. In other cases, phosphorescence appears to be a more or less accidental by-product of some other process, and of little or no significance. The substance which produces the glow is contained in the slimy secretion produced by the epidermal glands of the fish, and, as phosphorescence can only occur in the presence of oxygen, it is evident that the light is produced by the slow oxidation of this substance. The colour of the light emitted by marine organisms is generally blue or light green, but red and lilac also have been observed. The distribution and colour of the light or lights produced by individual fish vary with the different species. In many cases it would appear that these points of light provide the means by which fish recognize each other in the dark depths of the ocean. Some fishes possesshighly developed phosphorescent organs known as photophores, consisting essentially of a group of gland cells that secrete the phosphorescent fluid. These organs are generally distributed in rows along the sides and ventral surface of the fish. Some fishes possess more complex and highly developed organs containing, in addition to the gland cells, a system of blood vessels and nerves, a transparent, protecting membrane and reflector, an iris-like diaphragm and a lens. These more complex organs are generally larger and less numerous than the simpler ones. Possibly they are used to search for, or to attract, prey.

The phosphorescence of decaying fish and meat is due to the presence on the fish or meat of certain bacteria of putrefaction, which are themselves phosphorescent. When seen under the microscope, the individual bacteria appear as shining points of light.

Fishmay be captured with spear, trap, line or net. Which of these methods is employed necessarily depends very much upon the size and habits of the fish, and upon the skill and available equipment of the fishermen.

Spears and traps were used in prehistoric times and survive to this day in various forms, e.g. harpoons, lobster pots, hedge baulks, fishing weirs and the various ingenious traps and entanglements that are used by primitive races in all parts of the world. The logical development of the spear and the trap into the line and the net was made possible by the invention of string.

To design and construct a trap, it is generally necessary to know something of the habits of the fish to be caught. Hedge-baulks and fishing weirs are fairly extensive enclosures made of brushwood, basket work, stakes or stones, constructed on the foreshore in such a way that at high tide the sea carries the fish into the enclosure and leaves them there when it recedes. These fishing weirs are probably the primitive origin of most forms of fishing nets.

The crab or lobster pot or creel is constructed of basket-work, in shape somewhat like a safety inkpot, so that the lobster or crab can easily enter it, but, once in, is unable to escape. Lobster pots, suitably baited with fish and weighted, are distributed over the fishing ground—a rocky bottom full of crevices—from small, open boats, and are gathered the next day.

Fishing with hook and line is also a very ancient method. Before the discovery of metals, the hooks were made ofbone. Some people—notably the Chinese—frequently use unbaited hooks, and rely upon the jerk of the hook at the right moment to secure the fish. Generally, however, the hook is suitably baited, the method being used chiefly for fish that seek their food by scent or sight, e.g. cod and shark. Line fishing for cod is still employed on a large scale off the North of Scotland and the coast of Newfoundland.

In lining, the fish are caught individually. A “line” may be as much as seven miles long. Short pieces of line from two to three feet long are attached to it at regular intervals. These lines are called the “snoods,” and carry the hooks. The line is usually shot at night, and fished in the morning. In most cases line fishing is rapidly being superseded by trawling.

The invention of netting marked a notable advance in the primitive development of the fishing industry. The net in all its various forms and applications is the characteristic and all-important implement of the fishing industry. A net may be used either to surround a fish and drag it out of the water, as in seining or trawling, or it may be used to enmesh the fish, as in drift netting. The rise and development of the sea fishing industry has been due very largely to the gradually improved efficiency of the net.

Nets were originally used on the shore. A long strip of netting was attached to upright stakes, to form an enclosure with an opening towards the sea, constructed like a fishing weir in such a way that the fish enter the enclosure at high tide and are unable to escape. Such devices constructed on shore are known as “fixed engines”; they include stake nets, poke nets, stream nets and purse nets. The net may simply form the wall of an enclosure (stake net). This enclosure may be furnished with a pocket at one corner(poke net). It may consist essentially of one long, deep pocket kept open by rings or stakes at intervals (purse and hose nets). It may be simply a wall of netting into which the fish thrust their heads; owing to their gill openings they are unable to withdraw and so become entangled (stream net).

The first development of a movable net was the seine or drag net. The seine is a semi-circular drag net, which is shot in shallow water so as to enclose an area of water close to the shore. It is then hauled ashore, and gathers up the fish that are in the enclosed area of water. Such a net is limited to inshore use. Generally, a line is attached to each end of the net. The free end of one of these lines is made fast to the shore by a stake, and the net is paid out from a small boat. When the whole of the net has been paid out, the boat travels round until the net forms a semi-circle of which the diameter is parallel to the shore; the net is then hauled in.

The seine net was used in ancient times by Phoenicians, Greeks, and other Mediterranean peoples. Various types of seines are in common use to-day. In Denmark a seine net is employed to catch eels and plaice. On the Cornish coast pilchards are caught with a large seine up to two hundred fathoms long and eight fathoms deep. In the United States a seine is used in water of any depth to catch mackerel. Rings are attached to the foot-rope of the net, and by passing a line through these rings and drawing it tight, the net is transformed into a bowl of netting. This is called the purse seine.

Fig. 9TRAWLING(circa1750)

The seine was first improved by the addition of a pocket at its centre. Then the sides or wings were gradually lengthened, until finally it developed into a deep, conical, bag-shaped net, furnished with long arms or wings. This was dragged along the bottom, behind a boat in full sail. The net was weighted and itsmouth kept open by attaching its upper edge to a beam of wood (beam trawl). When the net was full of fish, it was run ashore. Ultimately, instead of drawing the net ashore, the fishermen remained at sea and hauled the net on board with a winch. In this way the seine net gradually developed into the trawl net. The trawl net marked a big improvement, for it could be fished in deeper water further from shore, and thus greatly increased the scope of fishing operations, and led to the rapid growth and improvement of demersal fishing.

Trawling is said to have been invented at the end of the seventeenth century by the Brixham fishermen. The first trawlers were quite small vessels, and were followed towards the end of the eighteenth century by the smack. The smack reached its maximum size and efficiency at about the middle of the nineteenth century. Some of the smacks that are still fishing from Brixham—durable, seaworthy, and with beautiful lines—are probably a hundred years old.

In 1870, there were a thousand first-class smacks in the North Sea, three hundred in the English Channel, and over a hundred in the Irish Sea.

The smacks were fitted with a tank in the well of the ship, in which the fish were kept in sea-water and brought in alive. In Denmark to-day, plaice are brought ashore and sold alive.

The subsequent development of trawl fishing has been in the construction of larger nets, worked by more powerful trawling vessels driven by steam.

The size of beam trawl that can be worked by a large sailing smack is limited by the trawling power of the vessel, and also by the difficulty of constructing and handling very long beams. The maximum length of beam in general use by sailing smacks is fifty feet. The length of the net, from its mouth to the narrow of“cod” end, rarely exceeds a hundred feet. To each end of the beam is attached a triangular trawl-head of iron, which moves along the ground and serves to keep the beam about three and a half feet above the ground. These trawl crossheads are attached to the ship by bridles and warp.

The upper edge of the net is attached to the beam, the lower edge being attached to a stout rope—the foot-rope—the ends of which are made fast to the crossheads. This foot-rope, being considerably longer than the beam, sweeps along the ground abaft of the beam, to form a deep curve known as the “bosom” of the net. The result is that, when the foot-rope disturbs the fish so that they leap to avoid it, the beam has passed on overhead and they leap into the net.

Pockets are formed in the sides of the net by lacing the top and bottom together for about two-thirds of the distance from the mouth of the net towards the cod end. The mouth of a pocket is at the cod end of the net, so that fish reaching the cod end and attempting to return to the mouth of the net, generally enter the pockets. A flap of netting suspended some distance inside the mouth of the net serves as a valve. It is easily lifted by the incoming fish, but tends to prevent their escape.

The netting is of hemp, the mesh gradually increasing from one inch at the cod end to about two inches near the mouth, and is preserved with tar.

When fishing, the vessel moves ahead at a steady, slow rate of from two to three miles per hour, dragging the trawl behind it. Smacks always trawl with the tide. If they trawl against the tide, the net is lifted from the ground.

During fishing the cod end is closed by the cod line, but at the conclusion of the trawl the net is hoisted aboard, mouth upwards, and the contents are discharged upon the deck by drawing the cod line.

The otter trawl that is used by modern steam trawlers is from seventy to one hundred and twenty feet wide across the mouth, according to the character of the fishing, and a hundred and ten feet long from the mouth to the cod end. The otter trawl is shown inFig. 17. It differs from the beam trawl in that its mouth is kept open, not by being attached to a beam, but by otter boards, which are attached one to each side of the mouth of the net. These are attached to the net and to the warps by which the net is towed in such a way that the pressure of the water upon them causes them to diverge, thus keeping the mouth of the net open. The size of a beam trawl is necessarily limited by the length of beam obtainable. The size of the otter trawl, however, is obviously only limited by the power of the steam trawler. The otter boards measure 11 ft. by 4 ft. 6 ins., are shod with iron, and weigh 15 cwts. each. The warps, as the ropes are called which attach the otter boards to the ship, are from three hundred to a thousand fathoms long—generally a little over three times as long as the depth of the water in which the trawl is to be used. Each board is attached to the steamer by a separate warp. The upper edge of the mouth of the net is attached to a strong rope, called the “head” rope. The lower edge of the mouth of the net is also attached to a strong rope, called the “foot” rope. As in the beam trawl, the foot rope is considerably longer than the head line, and forms a bosom. Traps and pockets also are inserted in the sides of the net. When trawling on rough ground, the foot rope is furnished with large, heavy, wooden rollers, called the “bobbins.”

Trawl fishing, until quite recently, was almost entirely confined to demersal fish, such as cod, plaice, haddock and halibut. In recent years, however, considerable quantities of herring have been caught by trawlers.

Fig. 10DRIFTING(circa1750)

Drifting.The drift net is essentially a completely submerged, vertical curtain of netting, one end of which is attached to a boat called a drifter. The net extends in a straight line from the boat, and may be as much as three miles long. Unlike the trawl net, the drift net generally catches one kind of fish only—either herring or mackerel—drift net fishing being carried on at a time when these fish come together in shoals near the surface for the purpose of spawning. The trawl obviously only captures fish living at the bottom. At the same time, of course, it captures all the fish at the bottom, whether immature, or useless star fish, etc. The drift net, on the other hand, is generally used for a particular kind of fish—herring, mackerel, sprat—and only catches fish above a certain size.

A drifter may be as much as 90 ft. long, with 20 ft. beam and 10 ft. draught. Its foremast is so constructed that it may be lowered when the vessel is steaming against a head wind, or when it is fishing. The ordinary sailing drifter is rapidly being superseded by the steam drifter, partly because the greater power of the steam driven boat increases its capacity and scope, and, further, owing to the centralization of the industry at a few big ports at certain times of the year, these harbours are so crowded that it is almost impossible to handle a sailing drifter in them. Many of the larger sailing drifters have been equipped with petrol engines which largely discount this disadvantage. A steam drifter can travel at from 11 to 12 knots, and both steamers and sailers carry a fishing crew of seven men and a boy.

Fig. 11A SINGLE-BOATER AT FOLKESTONE

Inshore Fisheries.The development of steam fishing—trawling and drifting—has resulted in the re-grouping of the fishing industry into two well-marked divisions. Fisheries, whether trawling, drifting or lining, that are carried on in deep water far from shore in large steamers,for the most part owned by limited liability companies, are known as offshore fisheries. The fisheries of the seashore, carried on by small, privately-owned, sailing smacks and cutters within territorial waters, are distinguished by the term “inshore fisheries.” The inshore fisheries are mainly for shellfish, crabs, lobsters, shrimps and immature deep sea fish such as plaice, soles, flounders, dabs, codling and sprats.

Shrimps and whiting are caught with trawl nets of 25 ft. beam or less, and of about1⁄4in. mesh. The net is generally drawn behind a small cutter, but frequently it is used in shallow water with a horse and cart. These nets are generally made of flax or cotton, and are either tanned or tarred, in order to preserve them.

Smaller, fine-meshed, trawl nets are used for catching shrimps and also immature plaice, soles and dabs. These shrimp nets are either attached to a long handle and pushed through the water in front of the fisherman (push nets), or drawn behind a small boat or a horse and cart (trawl nets).

Larger fish are sometimes caught in shallow water by casting a net over the fish so as to enclose it (cast nets). The fisherman of the Eastern Mediterranean uses a cast net with conspicuous skill. The net is essentially a circular disc of netting, to the circumference of which small weights are attached at regular intervals. A cord is attached to the centre of the net, and the fisherman, standing knee-deep in the water, grasps the net by its centre, swinging it round his head, and casts it so that as it approaches the water it opens out, and with a soft splash sinks through the water until it lies outstretched over the fish. It is then drawn up by the string attached to its centre, and the weighted edges fall together enclosing the fish.

Fish are often caught on shores and in rivers bycausing them to pass between converging walls of stakes or basket work, until they enter an enclosure, the floor of which is covered by a net. When the fish have gathered in the enclosure, the net is pulled up.

The simplest form of inshore fishery is that for periwinkles, in which they are simply picked off the rock. Mussels live on the sea bottom, on the lower half of the foreshore. They generally attach themselves to a stone by a thread. They are usually collected at low tide by hand or, when submerged, are raked from the bottom. The rake is from 2 to 3 ft. wide, and is furnished with teeth 10 ins. long, the back of the rake being covered with netting. Sometimes the mussels are submerged even at low water and then a short rake is used.

Cockles live about an inch or so below the surface of the sand, and maintain a connection with the water above by means of small tunnels in the sand. They occur abundantly in many places between high and low watermark. When the cockles are abundant they are raked out of the sand, the rake being from 10 ins. to 1 ft. wide, with teeth 1 in. long. The cockles are riddled, the small ones being rejected. When the cockles do not exist in such large numbers, they are obtained by means of a “jumbo.” This is essentially a block of wood, 3 or 4 ft. long, and 1 ft. wide, furnished with two upright handles. The jumbo is rocked to and fro on the surface of the sand, with the result that the cockles are gradually worked up to the surface.

Herringsabound in the waters round the coast of Great Britain. Ordinarily they are widely scattered in deep water, but at certain times of the year they come together in shoals in the warmer water near the surface for the purpose of spawning. It is at this time that they are of greatest value for food purposes and, being gathered together in shoals, are most economically caught.

The herring may spawn at any time of the year. In this respect it differs from all other British marine food fishes. Most British caught herrings spawn during September and Autumn. Very little spawning takes place during late winter and spring, i.e. just after minimum sea temperature. Each local race (or species) appears to spawn at a constant time of the year. The date of the annual spawning, and hence the herring fishing season, varies from point to point round the coast. Herrings caught at different places show well-marked differences in appearance and quality, which are evidently due to differences in species and feeding ground. The food value of the herring will depend also upon the time of the year at which spawning occurs. Thus, in the Irish Sea, there are two races of herrings—the Manx and the Welsh. The Manx herring spawns in summer (September), and is rich in fat; the Welsh herring spawns in winter (November and December), and is poor in fat. Herrings are first caught off the West coast of Scotland in the waters round the Hebrides. This fishing begins in the middle of May, its chief centrebeing Stornoway. In early June herrings are caught in the waters round the Orkneys and Shetlands, and then in succession off Wick, Fraserburgh and Peterhead, and the Northumberland coast (Eyemouth, Berwick and Sea Houses). About the middle of July the herring fishery season begins at Blyth and Shields, and at Scarborough and Grimsby towards the end of July. At Yarmouth and Lowestoft it begins early in October. The last herrings to be caught in British waters are caught round Devon and Cornwall in December.

Of the various kinds of herring obtained at different places, the largest and finest fish are those caught in Downings Bay off the North of Ireland, Castle Bay off the Island of Barra in the South Hebrides, and off the Shetlands. Herrings differ very much in their suitability for handling, keeping and curing. Most herrings have a small gut which is easily removed without seriously damaging the body of the fish. Blyth and Shields herrings, however, are very rich and fat, and have a specially big, distended gut. Such herrings are difficult to clean because, when this large gut is removed, the belly of the fish is so tender that it is often broken. Herrings caught off these ports are fat and oily, so that many are landed in a broken condition. The Yarmouth herring is firm and hard, and is the best adapted for handling and curing.

Unlike that of the cod, the flesh of the herring is very rich in oil and fat. The body flesh of the herring consists essentially of two well-developed layers of adipose tissue, alternating with two layers of muscular tissue. The fat in this adipose tissue is very liquid and oily, and tends to make the fish tender. The actual amount of body fat varies widely throughout the year. It gradually rises to a maximum before spawning takes place, and diminishes slightly before spawning and afterwards rapidly to a minimum. Thus, the fat contentof Manx summer herrings is about 2 per cent during the winter, and rises rapidly in June and July, until in August, just before spawning, it is over 30 per cent. The herring has a small liver which also contains some oil.

Fishing is carried out with drifters. Practically all drifters to-day are steam-driven, although recently a number of motor-driven drifters have come into use. Motor-driven drifters are mostly sailing boats converted. Each drifter carries a crew of seven men, including the skipper and engineer. The boats are largely privately owned and the crew work on a share basis. A number of boats are owned by companies.

The boats from the various fishing ports work round the coast, following the fishing from port to port. At Yarmouth during the fishery season there are about 1,200 drifters from nearly all the fishing ports round the coast. Stornoway, Wick, Fraserburgh, Peterhead, Aberdeen, Berwick, Whitby, and Yarmouth are all well represented.

Each boat carries from 70 to 80 nets. The nets are approximately 1 in. mesh. Each net is essentially a long rectangular curtain, hanging vertically in the water. Its upper edge, which is about 55 yds. long, is buoyed up by about 80 to 84 corks distributed equidistantly along it from end to end. The net is about 6 yds. wide. Each net hangs with its upper edge about 2 fathoms below the surface of the water, being attached at each corner to two pellets or bladders, resembling large footballs, and serving as floats.

Fishing nets and sails are often coated with warm gelatine, and then immersed in a strong solution of tannin. This renders the gelatine insoluble and preserves the nets against the attacks of destructive organisms.

Fig. 12HERRING DRIFTER

When fishing, the boat takes up a position stern on to the tide. The nets are paid out over the bow andconnected up in line, and carried by the tide till they form one long line, one end of which is attached to the drifter. The position of the nets is indicated by the line of bladder floats.

The fish swim against the nets, push their heads through, and then, owing to their gill openings, find that they cannot withdraw their heads, and in this way are caught in enormous numbers. Generally, fishing goes on all night, and in the morning the nets are hauled in, and, together with the attached fish, are thrown into the hold situated amidships. The drifters then return with all possible speed to the fish wharf. While the boats are returning to port, the men draw the nets from the hold and shake them free from any entangled fish. When the drifter reaches port, she moors alongside the fish wharf, bow on, and unloads her cargo of fish, using her derrick mast. The fish are unloaded in a round basket which is stamped by the Fishery Board’s officer as holding a quarter of a “cran.” The word “cran” is derived from the “crown” branded by the Fishery Board’s officer on each of the two wooden shafts in the basket.

The cran is the measure which is universally used in the trade. At Yarmouth and Lowestoft originally herrings were counted out and sold by the “last.” A cran averages from 900 to 1,000 herrings and weighs approximately 3 cwts. A “last” equals ten crans, and originally consisted of 13,200 herrings, counted out. This method, of course, was too slow and has now been abandoned.

Fig. 13CURING YARD AT YARMOUTH

The herrings, as they are removed from the ship, are put into special baskets called “swills,” each swill holding half a cran. The swills containing the day’s catch are arranged in rows on the fish wharf, opposite each drifter. It is a great sight to see about four or fivehundred drifters lying, bow on, alongside the fish wharf for about 21⁄2miles, all unloading fish as fast as they can.

A good day’s catch would consist of about 90 crans. A good catch, therefore, would average about 100,000 herrings, and would weigh about 13 tons. Some boats come in with as many as 160 crans of fish, and the total “cranage” for a day may exceed 30,000. The total catch for Yarmouth on a good day would be about 30,000,000 herrings, weighing about 4,000 tons.

Sometimes when the catch has been poor, the drifters remain out on the fishing grounds for another day, rather than come home with a small catch. In this case, the two catches are kept separate, the first catch being called “overdays.” Overdays are worth about half the price of fresh fish and are, of course, less suitable for high grade curing.

After it has been purchased by the curer, the fresh herring may develop into a salted herring, a red herring, a bloater, or a kipper, depending upon the degree of salting and smoking to which it is subjected. Herrings are sometimes put into cold storage, to be withdrawn subsequently as occasion demands, either to be salted or, more frequently, to be consumed fresh. Cold storage affords a convenient method of preserving herrings when there is a glut, for at such times it is often impossible to deal with the herrings adequately in the ordinary curing yards.

Salted Herrings.The fresh herrings are delivered to the curer’s yards. Here, the fish are emptied into broad, shallow troughs, which generally run from end to end of the yard. The troughs are about 4 ft. wide, and are generally made of wood and arranged at a convenient working height. Usually, the trough is situated just inside the boundary wall, and the fish are delivered into it through large openings in the wall.

Fig. 14SCOTTISH FISHER GIRLS

The fish are gutted and salted by Scottish girls—many of them from the Hebrides—who come to Yarmouth and other places in the season for this purpose. These girls are all brought up in Scottish villages, and are extraordinarily expert in all the operations connected with the cleaning and salting of the fish. They work in crews of three, and take very good care that each member of the crew is a good worker, as they are paid according to the amount of work they do.

Each girl receives 25s. a week as a kind of subsistence allowance, and is paid 1s. a barrel for the work she does.

As the fish are delivered into the gutting trough, they are liberally sprinkled with salt, thus enabling the women to grasp the fish easily, as otherwise the fish are too slippery for quick handling.

The women work standing in a row beside the trough. They pick up a fish, gut it by inserting a sharp knife just below and behind the gills, and with a quick, upward cut, bring away the gut. The guts drop into small tubs placed in front of each worker, and are collected periodically and sold to manufacturers of manure. Behind each woman are three shallow tubs or baskets, and after she has gutted a fish, she throws it behind her into one of the three tubs, according to its quality and size. In this way, the two operations of gutting and selecting the fish are combined. As the tubs of gutted fish become filled, they are taken away by other girls to the barrel packers, and are packed in separate barrels, according to quality or size. The barrels are arranged in long rows, generally parallel to, and at some distance behind, the gutting trough. A girl will pack about three barrels in an hour.

The gutted fish are first of all emptied into large, shallow tubs called “rousing tubs,” placed just behind the row of barrels, and are again sprinkled with salt.

The packer takes an armful of fish from the rousing tub and drops them into the barrel. Each time the fish are taken from the rousing tub the contents of the tub are well stirred up. The fish are then packed in the barrel in layers, bellies upward, and each layer is liberally sprinkled with salt. In this way each individual fish is first of all thickly coated with salt in the rousing tub, and adjacent layers of fish in the barrel are also separated by a layer of salt. In this packing process, it is important that the fishery salt used should be coarse, reasonably hard, slow in dissolving and present in considerable excess. It should be coarse enough to prevent the fish from touching each other, thus enabling the brine to penetrate to every part. It should be hard enough to withstand the pressure of the fish in the barrel. It should dissolve slowly, so that the salting process takes place gradually, enough salt remaining undissolved throughout the process to keep the fish from touching. Altogether, about 1 cwt. of salt is used for each barrel of herrings cured.

The barrel, when fully packed, is covered over and left for about eight days. During this time, the salt extracts water from the fish and dissolves in it to form a saturated brine. The efficiency of this salting process necessarily depends upon the salt being present in considerable excess, so that the brine formed is kept saturated, and consequently continues to withdraw water from the fish.

At the end of eight days, the barrels are opened, an inch hole is drilled in the side at the bilge, and the pickle allowed to run out. It is found that, owing to the withdrawal of water from them, the herrings have shrunk considerably, and some more salted herrings are added to the barrel, until it is full again. It is then fastened down permanently, turned over on its side and filled with brine pickle, and corked up.

The brine pickle which is formed during the eight days is not allowed to run to waste, but is used for filling up the barrels after they have been repacked. This brine pickle contains amino bases, together with small quantities of coagulable proteids, and is of distinct nutritive value. The Poles and Russians, who are great consumers of these salted herrings, actually use the pickle as a kind of sauce or gravy, dipping their bread in it. This, together with the general demand for salted herrings in these two countries, may very largely be due to the comparative scarcity and high price of salt there.

A cran of herrings (about 1,000 fish, weighing approximately 3 cwts.) uses up 1 cwt. of salt and, when completely salted, just fills a barrel. The curer estimates that 5 to 6 tons of salt will be sufficient for 100 crans of herrings. Herrings salted in this proportion should be exported and consumed before the warm weather comes, as they are liable to decay if the temperature rises above 70° F. The herrings that were packed for the British Government (1920-1921) were salted more heavily than usual (7 to 8 tons of salt per 100 crans), as, owing to the uncertain condition of the Russian and German markets, it was necessary to keep some of the fish in stock for a considerable time. Such a heavily-salted fish would be unpalatable to the home consumer.

In Yarmouth and Lowestoft, and also in Scotland, 100 crans of herrings should fill, when cured, from 125 to 130 barrels.

Herrings are sometimes salted at sea, 1 ton of salt being used to each last (10 crans) of herrings. Such herrings are mostly used to make “red herrings.”

Red Herrings.A considerable trade in red herrings is done with the Mediterranean and the Levant. For this trade, the fish must be thoroughly smoke-cured, otherwise they will not keep in the comparatively warm climate.The fish are first of all dry-salted in concrete tanks about 10 ft. square and 6 ft. deep, arranged under the floor of the curing house. Fresh fish and salt are simply thrown in and mixed up, and left to develop their own pickle.

Generally speaking, 1 ton of salt is used to 10 crans of herrings, and each tank will hold from 20 to 30 crans of the fish. The fish should be left in these salting tanks for five days at least; sometimes, of course, they are left for months, according to the trade, in which case the tanks practically serve as storage tanks for the salted fish. The fish are removed from the tank as required, washed, and put on “speets” and smoked. A “speet” is a wooden rod about 3 ft. 6 ins. long and pointed at one end. The fish are threaded on the speet through the gill openings and mouth, each speet holding from 20 to 30 fish. The speets are then stacked horizontally on racks in the smoke house “loves” (lofts), about 6 ins. apart and about 12 ins. above each other, until the smoke house is filled from the roof to within a few feet of the floor. When the smoke-house is filled, fires are lighted on the floor. Generally, the fuel used is oak turnings, shavings, and sawdust. This material burns quickly, and gives a very resinous smoke which not only dries the fish, but also permeates it thoroughly.

The rate of curing and the character of the finished product depend upon the temperature of the smoke, and the proportion of antiseptic resinous materials in it. When the oak or other suitable hard wood fuel is in the form of turnings or dust it burns quickly, and thus produces a fairly hot smoke, containing antiseptic substances—for example, guaiacol and creosol. Such a smoke will cure the fish quickly.

If oak billets or logs are used they burn comparatively slowly. The smoke, therefore, is not so hot and, since slow combustion in this case probably meansmore complete combustion, the proportion of resinous constituents in the smoke is liable to be considerably diminished. When oak billets are used, therefore, curing takes place much more slowly.

The temperature in the smoke house will also depend very much upon the prevailing weather temperature outside. In cold weather it is difficult to keep the temperature up sufficiently. The curing takes longer, and results in a hard cured product. In very warm weather, on the other hand, it is difficult to keep the temperature down, and a “fired” fish is sometimes produced, i.e. one which is half-cooked and soft. Such a fish is clearly unsuitable for packing for export.

Generally speaking, the temperature of the smoke should be such that the curing takes about 10 days.

After smoking, the fish are taken off the speets and selected according to quality. Those which are large and perfect fetch a better price, and command an entirely different market from those which are damaged or broken.

During the smoking of red herrings, the fires are lit each night, and simply allowed to burn themselves out.

Bloaters.There are two kinds of bloaters: those intended for the home trade and those intended for the Mediterranean trade. For the home trade the herring is lightly salted by immersing it in brine for two hours or less. It is then dried in the smoke-house for one night, using billets. Unlike “reds” or kippers, it is not cured by the smoke, but simply dried. The bloaters for the Mediterranean trade are salted in concrete tanks in exactly the same way as red herrings, but, instead of being smoke-curedfor 10 days or so, they are simply smoke-driedfor two days.

Kippers.Kippering is the only process in the herring industry in which the fish are split before curing. Fresh herrings (sometimes over-day herrings) are boughtearly in the morning from the drifters and taken to the curing yard. They are split down the back, close to the backbone, and gutted and thrown into large, open baskets. The basket and its contents (about 50 herrings) are then plunged into a tank of running water, and violently agitated to wash blood and slime from the fish. The fish are then thrown into brine in large tanks about 6 ft. by 5 ft. by 4 ft., until the tank is full. Salt is then sprinkled on the surface, and the fish are left from half to one hour, according to their size.

They are then hung on kipper speets. A kipper speet differs from a bloater speet. It is a square bar of wood about 31⁄2ft. long, and of 1 in. square cross-section. It is supported horizontally. The split herrings are opened out and impaled upon hooks at intervals along each side of the speet. Each speet in this way will carry about eight or nine herrings a side. The speets are then stacked on racks in the “loves” of the smoke-house, are smoked over-night, using fires of oak turnings and sawdust, and are packed the next morning in boxes.

The herring is probably the most abundant food fish known. During the autumn herring fishery of 1920, over 1,000,000 crans of herrings were landed at Yarmouth and Lowestoft. If we assume that one cran measure contains 1,000 herrings, we see that over 1,000,000,000 herrings were caught in less than 4 months, and this probably represents only a small fraction of the number present on the fishing grounds. In 1913, 11,762,748 cwts. of herrings, of value £4,412,838, were landed in Great Britain. In the same year, the exports of herrings from the British Isles were as follows—

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