They are then hung on kipper speets. A kipper speet differs from a bloater speet. It is a square bar of wood about 3-1/2 ft. long, and of 1 in. square cross-section. It is supported horizontally. The split herrings are opened out and impaled upon hooks at intervals along each side of the speet. Each speet in this way will carry about eight or nine herrings a side. The speets are then stacked on racks in the “loves” of the smoke-house, are smoked over-night, using fires of oak turnings and sawdust, and are packed the next morning in boxes. The herring is probably the most abundant food fish known. During the autumn herring fishery of 1920, over 1,000,000 crans of herrings were landed at Yarmouth and Lowestoft. If we assume that one cran measure contains 1,000 herrings, we see that over 1,000,000,000 herrings were caught in less than 4 months, and this probably represents only a small fraction of the number present on the fishing grounds. In 1913, 11,762,748 cwts. of herrings, of value £4,412,838, were landed in Great Britain. In the same year, the exports of herrings from the British Isles were as follows— Fresh herrings 1,464,296 cwts. worth £1,212,493 Cured herrings 8,797,106 „ „ 5,333,113 ---------- ---------- Total 10,261,402 „ „ £6,545,606 ========== ========== The quantity of herrings caught by other European countries is as follows-- cwts. £ France (1911) 7,846,503 529,739 Germany (1913) Fresh 148,354 75,738 „ „ Salted 1,030,039 563,033 Holland (1911) 1,685,751 919,973 Norway (1912) 4,404,400 580,570 Denmark (1912) 845,295 140,051 Sweden (1912) 861,420 205,555 Belgium (1911) 13,000 5,000 ---------- --------- 16,834,762 3,019,659 ========== ========= CHAPTER V THE NEWFOUNDLAND COD FISHERY The cod is widely distributed in the northern and temperate seas of Europe and America. It lives close to the bottom, in from 25 to 50 fathoms of water, and feeds upon fish, small crustacea, worms and mollusca. The cod spawns in the Spring. Of the 4,000,000 or so eggs that are spawned by a single female cod, comparatively few are hatched, and fewer still reach maturity. The young are about 1 in. long by the beginning of the summer, and become fit for the market at the end of the second year. Usually, the fish are mature at the end of the third year, and then measure about 3 ft. in length, and weigh from 12 to 20 lbs. They are in the finest condition in October, November and December.