VIGNETTES FROM NATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3331, 16 January 1918, Page 55

VIGNETTES FROM NATURE.

By G. M. Thomson, F.L.S,

XIX.—A HARVEST OF SILVER AND GOLD.

A favourite holiday amusement at the seaside is to indulge in amateur seinenetting. As conducted by the professional fishermen, the net-is piled on the stern of the boat; one of the men stays ashore with one end of the ropes, while the other pulls the dingey some distance out, then turns along parallel to the beach, and when sufficient of. the net has been paid out rows shorewards. Both men—assisted by all who are willing to bear a hand—then drag the net inshore and towards one another, and in this way enclose any fishes which happen to be within 'the area dragged. On a somewhat recent occasion, when the net —fitted with a smaller fine-meshed net inside, to catch fish small or thin enough to escape through the meshes, such as gar -fish—was pulled ashore it was found to contain a great number of small and immature fish, as well as some considered worthy of being consigned to the frying pan. There ' were several flounders, which were about ■ the only specimens valued by the majority of the fishing party. But I was not specially interested in these. I was after other game, and wag specially interested in seeing what kinds of fish were about, and what growth the young of various common kinds were making. The haul contained great numbers of pig-fish, some Hippocampi or sea-horses, two kinds of pike fish, lots of young barracouta about Ift long (quick, snappy little fellowsj, and two kinds or species of the herring family. These were of especial Interest to me.

One of these, the sprat, which has received the long technical name of Amblygaster antipodus, is, like the poor, always with us. It is found in Otago Harbour and along the coa-st all the year round. About Cape Saunders it is found iii great numbers, especially during the months of May and June, but whether this is the spawning season or not I cannot tell. Nor do we know what kind of egg this species produces—whether it is floating like that of the flounder, or demersal and laid on the bottom like that of the European herring. Probably the latter. This fish constitutes a considerable proportion of the food of the larger fishes, and has been taken out of the. stomachs of a number of species, especially barracouta and red cod. The other species, which is considered by ichthyologists to be the true pilchard or sardine, also occurs in ' all the coastal waters throughout the whole year, but especially in the summer months. It "also Is often found in the stomachs of larger fish. It is this fish I want to say something about to-day. In February and March it is a common and wonderful sight, when one is standing on any high ground on the coast and looking out seawards, to observe a vast array of birds flying mear the surface, and generally moving in a northerly direction. Sometimes they are in their tens of thousands, and their number is only faintly appreciated if one is able to get near or among theni. They generally fly low, and every now and then one suddenly plunges among the ripples or curling wave-tops and emerges with a little fish in its beak. Others are resting on the waves, occasionally rising in a short flight to join the main body of their comrades. These bird-armies are largely made up of mutton birds and other petrels, terns, gulls of more than one species, and various shags and cormorants, while among them and flying over them are mollyhawks, looking like small albatross. If one sails or steams among those bird-armies the cause of their presence in such numbers is explained by the immense numbers of fish in the surface waters of the sea. It is said that at times these small fish are in such quantity that a bucket dipped over the side of a vessel is half-full of them when pulled up. I have never seen them in such quantity; but this is not a fish story—the fact is too well authenticated for that. Under certain conditions, no doubt of wind and tide, the fish is driven shore : Avards, and in the shallow water and on the beaches the birds are able to gorge themselves with fish. I have seen them in such quantities along the Brighton Beach that it would have paid the farmers to collect them as manure, and plough them into any fallow land they had. The helpless creatures are not only harried by birds, but they are also pursued .by great shoals of larger fish—notably, by barracouta, —which play havoc among their crowded multitudes, and no doubt help to drive them ashore. The fish are usually small—from oin to sin in length; but the species grows a good deal larger. In Queen Charlotte and Pelorus Sounds it used to be—and perhaps still is—taken in large numbers, smoked, and sold as Picton herring. Though smaller than a bloater, the fish, when freshly smoked, is not a bad imitation of its popular British namesake. The name "sardine" is a general one applied to various clupeoid fishes—that is, fishes closely allied to the true herring.— mostly of small size, found in different parts of the world, and it cannot be restricted to any particular "fish. Thus thero are " the Spanish sardine of the West Indies and Florida; the California sardine, found along the entire west coast of the United States and British Columbia; the oil sardine of India: and the sardines of Japan and New Zealand." But the sardine par excellence is the French sardine, called also celeren, celan, royan, galice, and cradeau on various parts of the French coast. The name " sardine " has reference to the island of Sardinia, in the Mediterranean, about whose shores the fish is abundant. As early as 1553 Pierre Belon, a. French naturalist, asserted that the sardine is the young of the pilchard, and at present

this is the view of nearly all authorities. Modern French writers on the sardine fishery seem averse to acknowledging the specific identity of the sardine and the pilchard; some even fail to explain or suggest the relation between the large and small fishes of the west coast of France; but Messrs Fabre-Domergue and Bietrix, of the French Department of Fisheries, in a paper on the reproduction of the oceanic sardine, state that they consider the "sardine de derive" (that is, the large fish taken without bait by means of drift nets) as the adult individual of the species, which towards spring lays pelagic eggs in local waters; while the " sardine de rogue'' (the small fish caught almost wholly by means of bait consisting of fish roe or "rogue") is the young form, whose age, according to their reasonably exact computations, does not exceed two years.

There are several other species besides pilchards which are tinned l as sardines. Thus tihe Norwegian sardines are probably young herring or sprats. Along the coast of Maine, in the United' States', the seaherring is extensively canned. The California sardine also is certainly not the pilchard; neither ds the Portuguese sardine. The true pilchard extends from Sweden to the Madeira Islands; the southern coast of tihe Atlantic coast of France, and tihe Mediterranean Sea being the chief centres of abundance. Though ihe common New Zealand species has been identified as the true pilchard., it may yet be found to have some slight specific distinction; but for practical purposes it is the same, and it is worth enquiring whetlher it can be utilised in this country. A brief note on the industry an France may be given, but I only have the figures for the year 1898, when Dr Hugh M. Smith wrote a paper for the United States Fish Commission on the subject. In Brittany, 21,684 fishermen with 4611 boats were employed in the sardine fishery. These, tfnd the necessary gear represented over invested capital, while the sardines taken were valued at over £300,000. That only represents £l4 per man. On ithe Mediterranean ooast 7794 men were engaged, with 2861 boats, valued, with the gear, at £200,000; and the value of the fish taken was just about £40,000, or a little over £5 per man. Of course, sardines only represent a proportion, and in the Mediterranean, a small proportion of the earnings of the men. One of the most singular things about tftie sardine fishery an France is that bait is used so extensively; it is said to be almost as important as the boats and nets. In no other net fishery in . the world is bait so extensively employed and so essential to tihe success of the industry. The scarcity of bait is always a serious matter in fishing districts, curtailing the caitch, reducing the income of the fisherman, and often producing distress among the fisherfolk. It is therefore remarkable that for this indispensable article the French should be absolutely dependent on other countries, and that the success of the fishery for sardines should be intimately related to the fisheries for other species in distant lands. The bait in general use is the salted eggs of the oou, though the eggs of haddock, pollock, herring, mackerel, and ' many other fishes are also employed. Cod eggs are not known to possess any properties which make them superior to the eggs of several other species, but owe their prominence to the abundance of cod in regions on which the sardine fishermen depend for their bait supply. The annual consumption of roe in France at present (1898) is 40,000 to 45,000 barrels, for which the fishermen pay about £60,000. It is reported that in favourable seasons as many as 25,000 barrels of roe have been expended in Concarneau alone. For at least two cenituries cod roe has been imported from Norway, which country has always contributed the greater part of .the sardine bait. The sardine fishermen also use peanut meal or flour to mix witUi roe, it being much cheaper. 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.

On the west coast of France the sardine fishing season opens in February and continues to November. The sardine fishery is essentially a shore fishery, and most of it is done within a very short distance of the home ports; it is mostly carried on within one or two miles of the shore, and rarely beyond five of six miles. The best fishing is in the early morning; the boats start between 2 and 4 o'clock, and a,re often back to port by 9 or 10 o'clock with full loads. When a boat arrives on the fishing grounds, tlhe rear mast is taken down and the boat is headed towards the wind. If fish are present, a net is shot and slowly towed by means of a short line attached to tihe cork line and fastened in the stern # the boat. When there is no wind, or when the wind is from an unfavourable quarter with reference to tlhe water currents, the sails are lowered and the crew row the boat. Bait is always used in the day fishincr. beinpr necessary in order to attract the fish to the vicinity of the boats, and into the nets. The casting of the bait, on the proper vise of which a. great deal of the success, of fulhing depends, is always done by the master "patron," who stands in the stern of the boat on a little platform and uses the flour and roe''as required. When the fish have come toward the surface, and are on one side or the other of the net, his object is to cast the bait in such a way that thev will rush against the net and become filled. No ice or other preservative is used on the fish, which are landed a short time after frilling. The fish reach port in good condition, and are often at the canneries within one or two hours after capture.

All this is plain sailincr and could he done in New Zealand quite easily. The further treatment vr-qjjJi he the difficulty, and consideration must be left over to another paper.