SPEARING SWORDFISH

Timaru Herald, Volume CXL, Issue 20281, 3 December 1935, Page 11

SPEARING SWORDFISH

NOVA SCOTIAN TRADE They make an art out of swordflshing in New Zealand, but swordfish are so plentiful off Nova Scotia that there it is a trade, and a lucrative one, as it has been realised that the flesh of those swordfish is a delicacy. While the controversy in the New Zealand Press was raging about the comparative kindliness to the swordfish of light and heavy tackle, treble hooks, etc., they were driving harpoons into him off Cape Breton, and making it pay. The industry has developed on a large scale in Nova Scotian waters only during the last few years. There was only one boat plying that particular trade in 1902, but in 1934 there were 1200, and this year the fleet is estimated to number 1500. vessels, while it is expected that over 1,000,0001 b of the fish will be marketed at a price favourably comparable with the best chicken and beef. The fish commence to school off Cape Breton about August 1, though they show up as early as June further south, and the Cape Breton run continues until late in September. The catch is boxed and iced, and sent to Boston in refrigerated cars. The record season catch of 1,000,0001 b realised £12,000. The craft engaged in this industry are from five to 15 tons burden and carry crews of from three to five, the five-crew boats being American schooners. The craft user are mostly auxiliary trawlers, and on the end of the bowsprit is fixed the "pulpit," a triangular platform with waist-high supports, in which the harpooner stands. Resting in front of him is a fifteen-foot pole, to which is affixed a two-foot length of iron, with an arrow-shapd head. To this head is fastened a rope and when the quarry is struck, a twist loosens the head. The rope is neatly coiled in a tub near the taffrail, and about eighty fathoms in length, at the end of it being attached to a buoy. The fish plays itself until the men in the dinghy which all these craft tow go out and give the coup de grace. This lucrative business has been brought down to a fine art. High uo on the mast are the look-out men, whose business it is to locate the fish and direct the man at the tiller. Most of them are struck under water, and as many as three or four may be speared and fighting for life before an attempt is made to bring any of them abroad. The swordfish follow the squid, herring, and mackerel, shoals, and when caught are usually gorged with these small fish. The buoyed struck fish are left sometimes for many hours, as ten or fifteen miles further may be covered before the catch is complete, but there is on unwritten law that one fisherman does not touch another’s fish. Trawling operations for groundfish are carried out by noany boats at night, and harpooning swordfish by day. Swordfish cannot be seen at night. A ten-day trip by one such boat produced 125,0001 b of groundfish by trawling at night, and 47 swordfish by spearing in the daytime. This trip returned £BOO. Expenses, of course, are fairly heavy. A 50-footer, with 14ft 6in beam, of 19 tons gross, carries a 40 h.p. engine, and uses 400 gallons of fuel for an average trip, and there is ice to pay for. Trips run from two to three weeks, and sometimes to a month, and seamanship and skill are needed, not only 'to catch swordfish, but to weather the storms and fogs. One catch of eleven fish weighed 17001 b, and was reportd sold at 35 cents a lb.