The Herring Fisherv of the North Sea.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 1, 4 January 1908, Page 57

The Herring Fisherv of the North Sea.

By Jaanes Blyth. Most of us learnt in our childhood that the sole earned its wry mouth by calling rude names after the herring, which had just won the sovereignty of fish by proving that it was fastest. “The naked herring!” called out the sole. “Yah! The naked herring!” And so it was smitten by those who protect dignities. It would be hard to prove the herring’s title to his kingdom by his pace in these days. Coal-fish, dogs, porpoises, cod, all chase and catch the huge shoal of herring which make their way down the coast at periodical intervals. But King Herring has a greater claim to the admiration of man than swimming rapidly. He is, without exception, the finest and most abundant food which either sea or land can supply. He need fear no rival when cooked before he has stiffened in death. He will take salt and smoke better than any other fish. He will “keep good” when high-dried longer than any other uncanned, savoury food, a"d his supply is practically inexhaustible. THREE SEASONS. On our east coast we have three herring seasons. The spring herring, when

only the fisu caught in the long-shore punts close to land are worth eating, and tons of the North Sea “razor-backed fish” (as they are locally called by reason of their thinness) are thrown away or bought by inland farmers for manure. Then come the “midsummers,” of which the long-shore variety are, perhaps, the finest of all for eating fresh, though they have no roes like their Martinmas relatives. These run, I think, larger than the autumn supply. But these two “fishings” are mere incidents in the herring industry. The number of boats engaged is small, and the quantity of fish caught insignificant. It is the Martinmas fishing that counts, and has been of prime importance to Yarmouth and Lowestoft ever since the former rose from the mouth of the Hierus Fluvius a thousand years ago.

This year, however, the home fishing has been exceptionally late. Usually the herring have reached Yarmouth in their southward migration by the third week in September, nnd bv the second week in October all the Scotch boats and local drifters which have followed the shoals down from Aberdeen (or even further north) have arrived to take up their quarters in either the Norfolk or the Suffolk port. But this season, owing, no doubt, to the mildness of the weather, the herring have delaved their arrival at “Smith’s knoll”—a favourite spot for them off Yarmouth—and there are still manv scotch craft, and a few local boats, which are landing their catches at Grimsby. TRIUMPH OF THE STEAMERS. Twenty years ago hardly a steam

drifter was to be seen. Now the majority of the home boats are steamers, and but for the 800 Scotch luggers the sailing craft would be hopelessly outnumbered. The steam drifter is a fine, well-buiit craft, between sixty and seventv tons in measurement, with a length of from 70ft. to ROft. and a beam or width of 17ft. or 18ft. It is true that this year some monsters have come south from Scotland, some of which must be nearly 100 tons. But the figures given above are about the average. A new boat, with her engines, nets, warps, buoys, etc., complete, is worth at least £3.000. Each boats “shoots” two miles of nets. These used to be about “twentv-score mesh.” or 30ft.. in depth. But of late years the Scotch style of net has come into favour, which is onlv sixteen or eighteen score mesh deep, wi’h a wider mesh or finer thread or fewer “ply.” All nets are now made bv madii icrv. though they still have to he repaired by hand when they are brought in torn bv weather or some mischevious eraft. “SHOOTING” THE NETS. The nets are “shot” over the boat’s “quarter.” and are kept upright, like a wall, bv heavy cables called “warps” fastened below, while thev are floated bv

a number of buoys on the surface. The wall of nets drifts with the tide, and the boat it belongs to drifts with it without Ix ing under wav. The herring swim into the nets, thrust their heads through the meshes and are held by the gills. When

(First and three Second Prizes.) a “strike” has taken place (and some times so heavy or powerful are the thousands of fish which are entangled in the meshes that the large buoys are almost submerged) the nets are “hauled,” and the fish ar' shaken out from the meshes into the rish-well as the nets come aboard. Tt may interest the reader to consider the extent of this east coast fishing. At its height th“rp are, say, 1,200 Scotch

boats, 260 Lowestoft boats, and 200 Yarmouth boats. There is a contingent from Shields and a few other English ports, so that it is not an exaggeration to put the number of boats at 1,700. I’hese are never all fishing together. But it is certainly not beyond ttL mark to

say that occasionally 1.000 craft are all fishing together. Each craft shoots, at an average, about two miles of nets. So "that there are two thousand miles of nets drifting, drifting, waiting for the shoals of silver herring to become entangled in their meshes. A good night’s catch is 20 lasts, or 200 crans. A cran is 1,320 fish, and a last ten times as many. The last is supposed to be ten thousand. Hut, then, a hundred herrings are (according to local count) 132. Last year some very high prices were realised, as much as £2 a cran. or £2O a last, being realised for fresh fish, so that a catch of 20 lasts

would bring in £4OO. I do not think these figures have been reached. But a boat has made £350 for a night’s fishing. To come to the curing, a perfect bloater should be washed and salted almost before it stiffens. Then, when it has a sufficient “tang” of salt to give it a “smack,” it should be hung up “for one night only” in the smoke of smouldering oak billets. In the morning let it be taken off the riving-stick, headed and gutted, and grilled for breakfast. Kippers are split, cleaned, and packed in layers and so dry-salted. All fish are sweeter for being dry-salted. Brine is sometimes used so often as to become

foul. But a dry-salted fish is purged or blood and all offence. Then they are hung up. A famous firm of kippering merchants have hung up as many as fifteen lasts of fresh fish in one night. The export trade has increased enormously of late years. In 1904 nearly 318,000 barrels were exported from Yarmouth alone. Now, as 1 write, there are three large steamers waiting in the harbour for cargoes for Hamburg and other ports on the east side of the North Sea. Probably there is no commercial investment that pays better than to be the owner of a lucky steam drifter. In me year the owners of one have been known to take £2,000 as there share. Not a ba I sum for interest on the £3.000 which the boat cost. That is exceptional. But high figures are not.—“ London Express.”