DRIFT FISHERIES.] F I H H E 11 I E S Bloater? A few words must be said here about the manufacture of mid red bloaters and red herrings, which has made Yarmouth famous herrings. a jj oyer ^Q world. The same mode of curing herrings is now adopted in many other parts of Englind and in Scot land, but the time spent on the operation in not in all cases the same. As soon as the herrings are brought to tho curing houses at Yarmouth, the fish :ire all washed to get rid of the salt they were .sprinkled with on board the fishing boats, and then, without being gutted, or any other preparation, they are again put into salt, whieh is generally brought from Liverpool. Their subsequent treatment depends on whether they are to be made into red herrings or bloaters. The latter -Yarmouth bloaters, par excellence axe gene rally selected fish, full-rood and of the best quality. The finest are made in October and part of November, when the home fishery is going on, and they should be cured as soon as possible after they are taken out of the water. Strictly speaking, a bloater is nothing more than a herring that has been only slightly cured ; it is kept in salt from twelve to eighteen hours, and then smoked for about twenty-four hours. But as any herring can be made into what may be called a bloater, and there being always a demand for them, their manufacture is carried on throughout the season with the best iish that can be obtained ; and we need hardly say that bloaters are to be had all over the country, and cured in various places, which come far short in excellence of the selected Yarmouth Iish. A properly cured bloater is ready for the market at once, and the .sooner it appears on the breakfast table the better it is likely to taste. In the last few years some bloaters have been prepared at Yarmouth with even less curing than that we have spoken of, but they will not bear keeping very long. It is the practice at Yar mouth to keep the fish in salt for fourteen days if they are to be made into "red, well-cured, or high-dried herrings"; they are then washed and hung in wood-smoke for another fortnight. The curing is mainly doim by women, and after the fish have been taken out of the salt and washed, they are "rived" or strung in "spits," or thin sticks, about 4^ feet long, which are thrust under one gill-cover and out at the mouth. Twenty-five fish are put on each stick. The spits .ire then taken to the smoke-room, a lofty chamber, perhaps about 16 feet square, having a series of wooden frames reaching from floor to roof, with small transverse beams, called " loves," beginning at a distance of six or seven feet from the ground, and running, one above the other, from one side of the room to the other. Tho frames are four feet apart, and the spits are placed in rows between them, the ends of tho spits resting on opposite loves. The roof is made of tiles, uncemented, so as to allow a good draught through the room, which when filled contains three lasts of fish. About sixteen fires are made on the stone door of this room, the fuel generally being oak billets, which give a high colour to the iish. Ash timber, producing a different colour, is used in some cases, to suit the fancies of particular foreign markets. When the room has been thus filled with spits of fish, the fires are lighted and kept burning for two days ; they are then let out, and the fish allowed to drip for a dny ; the fires are again kept alight for two days, and the process of alternately drying and dripping is continued for a fortnight, when the herrings are considered thoroughly cured, or high-dried, and are fit for packing. For the export trade they fire packed in barrels, each of which should hold 650 good-sized fish, or a larger number of smaller ones. The manufacturer s name and the number of fish are marked on each barrel. The export trade is to Italy, the Greek islands, and the Levant. The time employed in curing these herrings is longer than is given in Scotland, but in some cases only half the usual time is allowed, and such fish are sent by steamer to the Mediterranean, where they arc soon disposed off; but it is not considered safe generally to consign any but " well-cured " herrings to the foreign markets, especially in warm climates. For the homo market both bloaters and " reds " are packed as a rule in flat boxes. The drift fishery for herrings is carried on more or less along the whole east coast of England, throughout the English Channel, and to a small extent on the Welsh and western side of England. The seasons for this fishery differ, however, on different parts of the coast. It com mences on the Northumberland coast in the latter part of July, becoming later as we go southward ; at Yarmouth and Lowestoft the home fishery is in October and Novem ber ; but a spring fishing has been mada for some years past at Lowestoft, beginning at some distance from the land, and gradually coming nearer as the season advances. It is a fishery that has given rise to much complaint on account of the generally small size of the fish then caught. In the Channel herring fishing goes on during November and December, and at the extreme west in the early part of the year. It is not a very important fishery there, however, and the attention of the fishermen is soon entirely given to the more lucrative fishing for mackerel, which may bo slid to have its headquarters at the mouth of the Channel, although the fish gradually advance eastward as the summer goes on. The mackerel drift fishery is worked practically in the Mackeicl same manner as that for herrings, but a larger mesh is of drift course required, and about an inch and a half square lias usllc T- been found most suitable. That, however, is not the only difference between mackerel and herring nets. It is the special habit of mackerel to keep near the top of the water, and the nets are consequently so well corked as to float at the surface. It is also unnecessary to have the same depth of netting as when herring fishing, and what is saved in this direction is added to the length. A full train of mackerel nets as used by the large Yarmouth drift-boats is as much as 2i miles long, or double that of a herring ileet. Twine was long used in their manufacture, but cotton has taken its place generally whenever new nets were required. Mackerel first appear in deep water south and south-west of the British Islands, and are sometimes caught as early as January many miles west of Scilly, but the general Cornish fishery does not usually begin till towards the end of February, and it extends into June. May, June, and July are the months in which the mackerel drift fishery is carried on farther up the Channel, and ut the later part of that season in the southern portion of the North Sea. The important fishery for mackerel is, however, on the Cornish coast, and thither resort fishing boats from Yarmouth, Lowestoft, and the various Channel ports, and, in company with the famous Mounts Bay luggers, devote themselves to the ingathering of this great harvest of the sea. Many thousands of tons of mackerel are landed at the western ports during the season, particularly at Plymouth and Penzance, and are sent away by rail to the London and other markets. The pilchard drift fishery is worked in the same manner Pilchard as that for herrings, but rather a smaller mesh is used, and drift herring nets which have shrunk too much for their original H ier y purpose are often usefully employed for the capture of pilchard?. This fishery begins in July and continues till September. It is mostly worked on the coast of Cornwall, but during the last few years a great many of these fish have been taken along almost every part of the south coast of Devon. Pilchards may be regarded in England as essentially Cornish fish ; there is very little sale for them out of their proper county, but there they are looked upon almost as one of the necessaries of life, and every house hold likes to have a store of salted pilchards for winter use. These are all the produce of the drift nets, the fish taken by the seans being cured for export to the Mediterranean. A new industry in connexion with the pilchard fishery has Sardines, been recently established at Newlyn in Mounts Bay, and at Mevagissey, further to the eastward. This is the manu facture of "sardines" in precisely the same manner as has long been carried out on the French coast. The so-called " sardines," caught so largely iu the Bay of Biscay, being nothing but young pilchards, there seemed no reason why the Cornish fish if treated in the same way as the French should not turn out as good. Curing establishments were therefore set up at the two places named, and measures having been taken to ensure a thorough knowledge of the French mode of curing, " Cornish sardines," or " pilchards in oil," were prepared, and with so much success that orders for them are now received for more than the present limited means of manufacture can supply. Sean fisheries. Sean or seine nets are used on the Sean English coasts chiefly for the capture of mackerel and fisheries.
