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Pulling in Gold with the Net

HE fish most abund- the herring, which afford a staple source ant, and conse- of profit and employment on many parts quently most com- of the English and Scottish shores. The monly sought for, first is less plentiful than the second, but on the European is more esteemed; its flesh is firmer and coast, are the her- more savory. It is remarkable for its ring and the mack- brilliant colors. Off the Isle of Wight erel, the sardine, the an- this fishing is carried on very largely and chovy, the plaice, the sole, profitably. the turbot, the eel, and The mackerel emigrates annually in certain species of sharks, numerous shoals. According to Anderwhich, being only used as son, they pass the winter in the North, food by the people of the and descend in the spring to the Atlantic coast, rarely appear in Ocean and even to the Mediterranean, to the markets of inland regain in autumn the cold Polar Seas. The mackerel caught in the little fishery Among these fish some are landed as soon as taken, and immeare the object both of the little and great diately sent to the markets to be sold and fisheries. Such are the mackerel and eaten fresh. The captures of the great towns. fishery are chiefly salted and preserved in Great Britain; it peoples the gulfs of the barrels, and intended as stock provision Scandinavian Peninsula, and the North for land and sea. and Baltic Seas. It is also found in the The herring is also a migratory fish, and channel, and along the coasts of France, is supposed to perform nearly the same as far as the mouth of the Loire; but it is migrations as the mackerel. There are no longer fished in the Gulf of Gascony, few fish so abundant; its fecundity is and it does not penetrate into the Medi prodigious, and despite its numerous terranean. Very rarely does it enter the enemies, in the first rank of whom must great rivers; but there is good reason to