Commercial Fishing Chesapeake

foreign notice a little rough weather now and then in this film you'll be out on one of the fishing boats seeing how thousands of Virginians make a living in the fishing industry the beach for your holidays maybe you see some fishing going on or you may even rent yourself a boat and try your luck within real on the piers you'll see lots of pleasure fishermen you could easily think that this pleasure fishing is the only kind that goes on in salt water but if you travel a few miles along the shores in any direction you'll soon come to a harbor with fishing boats either the sometimes you'll see a lot of large fishing vessels sometimes a lot of smaller ones in some Harbors you'll see big plants and warehouses for the fish the boats bring in others you'll see much smaller ones everywhere you go along the shores of Virginia you'll find boats docks and buildings that show how widespread is Virginia's fishing industry and when you fly over the coastal area you can see at once why the fishing industry is so widespread it looks as if there's as much if not more water here than land on the map you can see exactly how much water there is near Virginia's Coast Chesapeake Bay is the largest Inlet on the whole Atlantic Coast and its widest part is in Virginia the rivers are very wide too for miles before the Rappahannock the York and the James empty into Chesapeake Bay they are so wide they look like great Bears themselves from the map it's difficult to realize how wide these waters are you have to see them here you're looking out across Chesapeake Bay here out over the York River and here out over the rapahana now you're traveling on Chesapeake Bay and now on the James River the weather changes over the waters just as it does over land and rain often Falls sometimes gently sometimes harder and sometimes hurricane winds raise big waves even in the rivers [Music] the seasons change the water too in Winter very little fishing goes on most of the boats lie moored at docks the fishermen may go oystering in the cold months [Music] or they may cut the piles of poles for their Nets but most fishing boats remain in harbors [Music] then early in the year Bright Days show spring is coming and the fisherman's work really starts you'll find them putting down mistakes on which they'll hang their Nets [Music] where the water is shallow and the Bottom mud holes are jumped down until they are stuck firm and fast in the bottom where the water is deeper the poles have to be longer bigger and much heavier here a pile driver is used to get them securely down into the bottom [Music] unsure much work is done on Nets each is checked and torn mesh mended knitting the Nets the fishermen say [Music] ropes at top and bottom are repaired [Music] and new ropes with floats and sinkers have mesh knitted to them really hard work comes when the big pound Nets weighing a thousand pounds and more are hung on the poles these pound Nets must be set early in the year to be ready for the fish that come into the bay and go up the rivers Every Spring [Music] most fish spend the winter in the ocean offshore where certain currents warm the water and where the tiny plant and animal life they eat is plentiful but very early each spring many of these ocean fish come migrate to Inland Waters to lay their eggs spawn others migrate because food is far more plentiful here during the warmer months here they will stay until cold weather approaches then migrate back to the ocean these migrations explain why there are so many fish in the bay and the rivers during the spring summer and fall and why there is so much commercial fishing here during the warmer months of the year among the first to migrate is the shad one of the largest fish caught commercially in considerable quantities in Virginia Waters some two feet in length and weighing three or more pounds the Shad a delicious food fish is in great demand the shads spawning migration takes it far up into Inland water here Shad are usually caught with drift Nets you'll see how this is done in the monkey one of the two rivers that joined to form the York here on the beach of their reservation the pomonky Indians keep the small boats in which they today drift net for Shad much as they have for years past the men go over and check each net every time it has been used before it is used again the hundred yards of 20-foot wide nylon mesh is untangled and coiled on top of other Nets into the box for the boat [Music] oh the Indians always make sure they have all the boxes of Nets ready in plenty of time for them to leave the reservation and set their Nets in the broader stretches of the river before the tide changes this setting of drift Nets looks easy but it is really very difficult and requires Great skill to pay out the net hand over hand evenly into the water [Music] cork floats keep the top of the net at the surface the rest hangs down in the water [Music] the meshes of the size that a fish swimming into it can only get partly through and so sticks caught by its guilds the setting is timed so that changing tides will drift the Nets across the path of migrating shad the Nets are left to drift with the tide several hours before the man returned to holvin this operation is quite simple though it requires considerable strength the way the fish are caught explains the name given this type of net Gill net [Music] after the Nets have all been hauled the boats return to the reservation [Music] right away each crew sorts its catch fresh Gill netted Shad to be sent to town and City Markets further down the rivers another kind of Gill netting goes on the stake Gill net over a thousand are set each spring steak Gill Nets catch more than half of the five million pounds of Shad taken yearly in Virginia Waters as the fish swim up the rivers to spawn the polls of the state Gill net are always in a straight line the net is strung from pole to pole its mesh hanging underwater steak Gill Nets are often a one-man operation he hauls each section in turn he usually owns the net himself for in Virginia food fishnets as a rule belong to the fishermen who work them the fish have gotten caught in the mesh as they swam into the net which was hanging across the path of their migration [Music] whenever the fisherman brings in a fish you can see that the mesh of these steak Nets catches the Shad exactly as did that of the drift naps other fishes too like this flounder get caught in stake Gill Nets but it is for their Shad catch that stake Gill net fisherman are so important to Virginia's fishing industry the river Herring another member of the Shad family provides an equally important spring Fishery these small fish migrate about the same time as the shad and yearly some 30 million pounds are caught in Virginia's Inland Waters The half-mile Long Hall sane herring net takes a crew of men to work it [Music] after a hall saying is used it is pulled back onto the rear platform of the setting boat the 12-foot wide net is laid down fold on fold so it will pay out evenly and slip straight back into the water when the net is set again now the boats have set the net and are pulling it to shore one of the end ropes is fastened onshore the other to the setting boat this makes the net travel smoothly through the water and form a circle to surround the fish the crew goes into action when the setting vote nears Shore the now circular net is ready to be hauled [Music] with each Hall on the road the circle of the net becomes smaller and smaller about half an hour after hauling started the net is in close to the shore [Music] a few minutes more and the fish filled net is gotten into position to be fished have the Herring taken from it [Music] as soon as possible the boat into which the Herring were fished from the net is emptied [Music] loaded baskets go into the truck which has been waiting and will take the Herring to canaries for almost all of Virginia's enormous river Herring catch is canned as Herring and Herring row another kind of net takes a large part of the tremendous Herring catch when the fish are migrating to The Rivers the pound net pound Nets like this catch more food fish than any other net used in Virginia it is pound Nets which take the first Shad when very early each spring these fish come into the bay on their way to the rivers the number of pound Nets in Virginia is about a thousand they are mostly along the western shore of Chesapeake Bay and around the mouths of the rivers when you see a pound net in the water you usually see mostly Stakes though if the tide is low you may see some of the net too this model shows you how underwater the net hangs from the stakes and with it you can see exactly how the pound net works the long single end line called the hedging is usually in shallower water and is pointed towards Shore this hedging blocks the path of migrating fish so they swim along it trying to find a way through this brings them into the bay or heart of the net here still trying to find a way out many fish swim right through the funnel into the Net's head or pound now they are really caught mesh surrounds them on all four sides and the bottom two few fish ever find and Escape through the small mouth of the funnel by which they entered the pond to get the fish out of the pound fishermen make use of the many ropes you see tying the net and its funnel to the stakes the actual fishing of a pound net is done when the tide changes in the morning often very early the larger boat is moored to the stakes of the net opposite the funnel's entrance into the pound then the crew in a skiff loosen the ropes on the stakes that hold the net down next with their skiff inside the pound the men haul up the net they haul until they have the fish in a pocket by The Vessel where they can easily be dip netted into the skiff after the net is fished the men re-fasten all the ropes on their return to the vessel and soon it is taking them to another nap or a vessel usually fishes three or more complex now you're going to go right out with the fishermen and watch them fish some pound Nets this film will put you first on one boat then on another and you'll see the same thing happening with different Crews on different Nets in different kinds of weather just as you now know why the skips are being towed you'll know it once just what the fishermen are doing when they reach the Nets A boat like this and the pound Nets it fishes Willie belong to one or more fishermen for a pound net like this ropes and netting alone cost over two thousand dollars foreign as you watch these different Nets fished you'll see that they vary in size and in the number of men needed to work them but regardless of size the pound's ropes have to be slapped loosened first of all foreign when all the ropes are slacked the boats can enter the pound [Applause] smaller Palm nuts are found in the shallower Chesapeake Waters around Tangier Island as a pound net is hauled it is allowed to slip back into the water so that with each pole the pocket of the net between the boat and the stakes opposite becomes smaller and smaller count net fishermen in Virginia have a reason for working so hard the net either is their own or belongs to a fisherman they know well and who employs them [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] emptied of its fish the net is thrown back to fall into place for another catch pockets in larger pound Nets are often hauled as high as possible to make it easier for a braille like this to carry fish from the net to the vessel with as little water as possible [Music] pound Nets often catch large fish like this drum drums are sold as fillets or steaks sometimes too pound Nets catch undesirable fish that must be killed like this vicious Stingray [Music] the Nets fished comes the work of leaving the pound and of tightening and re-tying all the ropes [Music] when all the ropes are re-tied the fishermen are ready to take back to land the pound net catches in their skips or in their vessel's holes catches that will have in them almost every kind of fish found in Chesapeake Waters at the season the net was hauled some pound net vessels have arranged to meet the buy boat of a wholesale fish dealer on the pound net vessel the catch is first shoveled onto a sorting board here the crew sorts and puts into different baskets each different kind of fish the baskets are emptied into the weighing scoop of the buy boat and are dumped from it onto the ice in the hold to keep them fresh for Market among the larger fish in great demand caught in large quantities by pound Nets is the sea trout or weak fish which often weighs up to two pounds baskets from pound net catches are full too with equally popular very plentiful but smaller fish like the spot which weighs less than a pound and the Croaker another favorite closely resembling the spot most pound net vessels take their catches to one or another of the wholesale fish dealers on shore here the catch may be sorted by the pound net crew if the dealer is a small one or if the catch itself is of poor quality usually however pound net catches are shoveled into buckets on the skin the buckets are then raised to the deck of the fish house here they are dumped onto tables to be sorted by the Dealer's employees at Harbors in the coastal area buckets of pound net catches are swung up to fish dealers large and small there to be sorted and the different kinds of fish packed in boxes of ice for shipment to markets both in the state and out when you see a pound net catch being dipped around in the skips at a dealers and the baskets carried as bait by crab Potters to their boats it means the catch has been mostly menhaden a fish not eaten but very important just the same in Virginia's fishing industry more menhaden are caught than any other fish in Virginia Waters in fact almost half of all the fishes caught commercially are menhaden they belong to the same family as the shad and River herring Manhattan are small fish less than a foot in length yet they are caught with the largest vessels in Virginia's fishing industry the menhaden fleet is in its Home Port of Reedville for overhaul and painting each spring to this Home Port the boats will bring their catches throughout the coming season by the docks are the plants where the menhaden are processed their oil used in paint linoleum soap and other products they're solids going into poultry and livestock feed these plants and the boats are all owned and operated by big companies in fact the menhaden boats are perhaps the only commercial vessels netting fish in Chesapeake Waters not owned by the fishermen themselves now in the spring plants and boats are idle waiting for the menhaden to come into the bay The Marked area shows where menhaden are mostly found in the warm months when they migrate in from the ocean in late summer the fish sometimes go a short way up the rivers but throughout spring summer and fall they can nearly always be found in greatest numbers around Cape Charles and northward along the Eastern Shore to this area head the menhaden boats foreign [Music] back and forth over its Waters in search of Manhattan [Music] from the high Crow's Nest Lookouts the fishermen keep constant watch for signs of the fish in the waters below them often today helped in their search by company airplanes which radio the location of any menhaden lady from the Crow's Nest the fish when close can easily be seen in the water they always swim together in great numbers usually near or at the surface a menhaden vessel during the day's fishing tows its two purse boats in each purse boat is half of the quarter mile long menhaden net on the vessel the large crew needed for the net kills time until fish are sighted [Music] menhaden cited [Music] each man has his own place in the first books with the captain going to the stern of one the 500 pound Tom wait to close the bottom of the net with a draw rope is put into position and the boats are off to net the fish sometimes the two purse boats tow a small Striker boat with the striker man but usually he leads the way alone for his job is to locate the fish for the purse boats and tell them where and when to put down the net purse boats usually wait until the striker man with or signals tells them where to bring the net he gives the signal to set the net when the purse boats have reached the spot from which their net will be sure to surround the fish [Music] when the two boats meet the Tom wait closes the bottom of the net and the menhaden are caught in the big purse-shaped bowl of its mesh at one side of which are the purse boats and opposite the striker boat the fishermen hauled the net in much the same way you saw them haul the pound Nets but far bigger and heavier the menhaden net takes more than 30 men to lift it back into the first boats [Music] many menhaden boats Fish in the bay and you are seeing the crews of several different boats at work the more movement of the water inside the net the bigger generally will be the catch the men haul until they have the menhaden in one small pocket of the net from which just as you saw in the pound Nets the fish can more easily be taken when the net has been hauled everywhere purse boats wait for their vessels to come to them between the purse boats stretches a section of the Net's top cork line with this hooked over the side of the vessel the menhaden are forced into a triangle of net between the ship and the two purse boats then the Braille swings down into the triangle to dip the menhaden out and just as you saw on the pound net boat the fish are lifted up and dropped into the vessel's hole [Music] some menhaden boats still use the Braille for today more and more are changing to a newer faster method the triangle of net is pulled as tight as possible to raise the fish as high as possible in the water oh the open end of a large pipe is then lowered into the mass of menhaven and a pump draws them up through this long rubber from a spout into the vessel's hold when the catch is large like this 200 000 fish over 60 tons the crew really appreciates the pump the sooner the net is emptied the sooner it will be ready to be set again and also the more men hate in the board the higher will be the wages pumps today speed up operations in Chesapeake Waters pouring out menhaden from Spring through summer and usually far into the fall in the fall most of the fishes are migrating back from Chesapeake Waters to the ocean now the pound Nets are making big catches and another kind of net the ocean Hall scene is really put into action even in summer months some Hall scenes have been operating in the rivers but in the fall even larger ones fish along the Atlantic coast of Virginia south of Chesapeake Bay ocean Hall scenes are like the river herring net you saw after a net has been hauled into Shore it is loaded back onto a truck next it is pulled from the truck into the setting boat [Music] Nets are set just offshore with anchors dropped to keep them there the long end rope is brought in the anchored on land so that the net will keep its Wide Circle until it is time to haul it [Music] Truck power today hauls most Nets the Thousand yards of line are hauled first Sometimes by one truck method sometimes by another [Music] after the anchor comes in the net itself is hard section after section Again by one truck method or by another [Music] when the net is hauled to shallower water the men hold it up so that the fish are kept inside it [Music] you are seeing several different Crews at work [Music] sometimes the net when hauled is empty for Hall Sailors like all commercial fishermen can have poor catches as well as good ones [Music] these fall Hall sane catches will have in them the fishes you know are migrating the trout is one and the spot is another and the other kinds of fish you saw in the pound Nets [Music] all the fish are now caught sometimes in large numbers for the Last Time of the Season from Virginia Shores by the hall Sands as the fish migrate back to the warmer ocean currents where their food will become more plentiful nowadays fishing continues here in the winter ocean-going fishing vessels called trawlers net here for days at a time then return with their catches to Virginia's harbors you'll see the trawlers at the Docks of the fish dealers [Music] the big catches filling their holes go up to the Sorting tables here is where your fresh fish comes from in the winter time trawlers are in Chesapeake Waters only to unload not to fish there are few fish in the bay and rivers in the wintertime little or no fishing goes on winter is a time of waiting for spring and the fish to return then these now empty Waters will again have all sorts of fishing boats moving over them instead of just winter trawlers moving through their harbors crawlers that bring in only a few of the fish that later migrate to Virginia Coastal land Inland Waters in such great numbers those migrations that make commercial fishing in the Chesapeake the important industry it is today [Music]