CHAPTER VI.

THE HERRING AND OTHER FISHERIES.

Movements of the herring-Bait for cod-Frozen fish exported to America-The Labrador herring and the Shore herring-Chief seats of the fishery-Statistics of the average catch-Exports and annual value-Mackerel, halibut, haddock, and lobsters.

THE Newfoundland Herring Fishery has not received that attention which its value and importance demand. That it admits of indefinite expansion no one acquainted with the subject will deny. In fact if it were prosecuted with skill and energy, its value need not fall far behind the cod fishery. Along the coast of Labrador, in Bonne Bay and Bay of Islands, on the Gulf Coast of Newfoundland, in Fortune Bay, and many other localities, herrings may be said to swarm in countless millions, though not every year to the same extent or in the same place. Herring are taken at various points around the island at all seasons of the year. They are capricious in their movements, and will sometimes abandon a certain longfrequented part of the sea-board for a number of years, and return again after a longer or shorter period. Their movements prove that they are a local or home fish, their migrations, like those of the cod, being from deep

to shallow water, and vice versa. Naturalists now regard as mythical those long migrations of the herring to the Polar Regions and back, which used to be currently believed.

Their movements are limited in area on the Newfoundland coast, where they appear at certain seasons and retire during the remainder of the year into deeper waters within the sixty-fathom line of soundings. Vast numbers of them winter on the ledges and banks of the Atlantic coast, but, as at Bay of Islands and Bonne Bay, some schools return, after a short interval, in November, and winter in the deep-water bays. In Fortune Bay also this is the case, and there an extensive winter fishery is carried on. The schools which appear in April and early in May spawn in those months and are comparatively valueless as articles of food, but of great value as bait for cod and other fishes. It is this school from which the fishermen of Newfoundland obtain their earliest supplies of bait, and which they sell as bait to the French in enormous quantities, at St. Pierre and Miquelon, for use by their Bank fishing vessels. By the application of ice these early herrings might be preserved in abundance, as bait. During the winter the herring are taken in Fortune Bay in gill nets, and are exported to the American markets in a frozen state. At that season they are in excellent condition. The Fall herring is the marketable fish, and it is then that they are taken on the Labrador coast, where they appear early in September.

There are two varieties of herring taken on the shores of the island-the Bank (called also the Labrador) herring, and the Shore herring. They are probably the same species, differing only in age, the Bank being the full-grown fish, and measuring on an average thirteen and a half inches, while the Shore is eleven inches long. The herring does not reach maturity till the third year, but it spawns in its

second year, and at that period is known as the Digby herring in the Bay of Fundy. The Shore herring spawns in September and October, and comes on the shore in April. The spawning time of the Bank or Labrador herring varies according to locality. On the Labrador coast it appears to be in the autumn.

The chief seats of the herring fishery are Fortune Bay, St. George's Bay, Bay of Islands, Bonne Bay, and the whole coast of Labrador.

Fortune Bay is the centre of productive winter herring fishery. According to the most reliable accounts, the herring strike the shore about the first week in December, and take up their quarters in the deep arm about the 1st of January, where they remain under the ice until about the 20th of March. From the latter date till the 20th of April they are usually abundant and quite near the shore; they then go into deep water and remain there till the 5th or 10th of May, when they make their appearance in every cove and harbour for the purpose of spawning. The season lasts till the 5th of June, and is not completely over till the 1st of August, when they retire into deep waters to recuperate. The quantity taken in Fortune Bay is estimated at from 25,000 to 30,000 barrels per annum. Much of the catch in sold as bait to the French and Americans.

St. George's Bay has a summer herring fishery. The herring are thin and far inferior to those in the Bay of Islands. They are taken in May. Captain Brown in his "Fishery Report for 1871" says: "The herring in St. George's Bay are abundant and the catch unlimited. Every man takes as many as he thinks he can cure. This year about 30,000 barrels are ready to go to Halifax." The average catch is estimated at 20,000 barrels per annum.

The Bay of Islands winter fishery is the most valuable next to that of Labrador. The fish are the Bank or

Labrador herring, and of the finest quality. They are taken chiefly in Humber Sound, and even up the Humber River to a considerable distance. The nets used are two and three-quarters and three inch mesh. The fishery commences in October and ends in May, broken only when the ice is forming and breaking up.

When the Bay is frozen, the herrings are taken in nets which are put down in holes and drains cut through the ice. Two men will often take from two to eight barrels per day. In 1864, when the total population was only 118 families, the catch for the season was 30,500 barrels. Were this splendid fishery properly worked it might be increased tenfold. In 1868, 50,000 barrels were exported from the Bay of Islands; and in 1870, 60,000—value $120,000. The herring are exported mainly to Canada and the United States, where they sell for $4 or $5 per barrel. The method of cure, though improved of late, is still imperfect. Bonne Bay has a similar fishery on a smaller scale. On the coast of Labrador is the largest and most valuable herring fishery carried on by Newfoundlanders. The herring are taken here in September and the early part of October, and are considered the richest and finest in regard to quality. The catch varies greatly, but the average does not fall far short of from 60,000 to 70,000 barrels. Only a portion is exported, the local consumption by the fishermen being considerable.

It is difficult to estimate correctly the quantity of herring taken annually on the coasts of the Island and on Labrador, inasmuch as the exports show only a portion of the whole, and do not exhibit what is sold as bait or cured for home consumption. The last census (taken in 1874) gave the following enumeration of the number of barrels of herring taken in that year:

Add to the above the number sold to the French as

The exports for the year 1874 show that 189,956 barrels of pickled herring were exported, and 8,300 of frozen herring, making a total of 198,256, and leaving 73,126 barrels for home consumption.

The value of the herring exported from Newfoundland may be gathered from the following returns made in the years named:

This would give as the average annual value of the exported herring in those years, $358,359. The value of the herring sold to the French and Americans as bait may be safely estimated at not less than $150,000 per annum. Allowing 73,000 barrels for home consumption at $3 per barrel, the