Saga Of The Silver Horde: Salmon

from the Silvery deep of the beautiful skina and Fraser rivers of British Columbia and out of the coastal Waters along the shores of Canada's Fair Pacific province there come each year nearly a quarter of a billion pounds of salmon Fe a hungry world the value of this industry to Canada is as much as $15 million in a year there are several methods employed to catch these tasty fish these fishermen use the giln net method and here we see but a few of a total of 6,000 small boats Ander to a whole line of them to the fishing grounds and that each pair of Fisher approach a likely spot they came from the toe line and prepare to throw out their Nets the Gil net is so called because the mesh is so designed that when a fish swims against it its gills become caught in the mesh the net is cast across the current with the current or Tide Mr salmon swimming Upstream heads into the net with the net result that he can't get away every foot or so of Nets and thereby hangs a tail the men pull in their Nets when the end of the drift has been reached the extricate the salmon from the mesh throw them into the boat and then they proceed to go over the drift once more very often they keep at this business for 5 days at a time it's a tough grind but they don't mind here is another method of salmon fishing trolling long lines are attached to these poles at the end of the lions are spoon hooks designed to look like injured fish well old man salmon goes for what he thinks is food fit for a fish only to learn that he's going to be the food instead just one poor fish after another very often a man has five trolling lines at once and now to what is called fishing by the drags method this is just an old Indian custom on the lookout for a school of salmon they locate one when they see a salmon breaking water starting to row one of the men throws out the net this is known as shooting the stain a cork line along the top keeps it aoat while at the bottom there are weights the boat is roded right around the salmon this method is restricted solely for the use of the Indians and they carry on their drag stain fishing usually at the mouths of specified Rivers the two ends of the drags have been brought together and the Indians jump ashore and pull in their catch for you and me there looks to be numerous potential cans of salmon in that there catch in open Waters where they catch cannot be beached and operations are on a larger scale what is called the firsts method of fishing is employed these firsts boats cost about 25 ,000 each and the first San Nets cost about $4,000 the S cruises about looking for a school of salmon and once sighting it the net is dealt out from the movable Carriage on the stern the man in the small boat takes one end of the St while it is run out from the vessel the captain steers his boat around the school completing a circle when he meets the small skip having encircled the prospective catch the large net will be pursed or drawn together at the bottom thus the fish are completely fenced in he's not just playing but splashing the water near the open part of the net to scare the school off from playing hookie the man in the skip has a lead with which he also scares off the fish from his side of the open end by now the salmon probably figure there as good as canned already and so the winch begins to pull in the net no doubt the salmon are doing a lot of wiing themselves down below soon a silver horde will be drawn for that net certainly is a real purse now look at that wealth of spinny fellows the basket Here is known as a braer and brails or Scoops up the catch to transfer it to the the hold of the fainer a pretty basket of fish if ever there were the braer is really a miniature pain net with a special release at the bottom to drop its load a good catch by the pain form of salmon fishing would be 5,000 of these appetizing creatures of the deep down goes the braer and up it comes again to feed us hungry Mortals with food that fills the brain this is what might be terms fishing on large scale the P has done a mighty fine piece of work and so off goes the Sera with a tummy full of some of the finest fish in the world in certain restricted areas along the coast salmon traps still another method have been built they are placed along the Salmon's migration routes they consist of a complicated series of Nets like a maze Watchmen stay on duty all the time and the traps are periodically emptied the Nets are raised by winches it takes time but it's more than worth it here in the heart of the Trap the men are hauling up the net the fish look for all the world as though they are completely tuckered out or even dead but as the water gets shallow the salmon begin to object to the fresh air and what a fuss they kick up a tender comes up to the traps to convey the catch to the canies the braer gets to work and like a huge ladle it Scoops them up out they go into the H when the fish are running fast it's not uncommon to na a cool 15,000 of these fellows at one Fell Swoop there are several varieties scky which is the choicest valuable the Tha or spring salmon the next favorite Coos pinks and Chums the salmon industry of British Columbia provides a livelihood for over 20,000 people and goodness only knows how many others are indirectly connected with these fisheries and still they come by the hundreds all kinds and color to be candid they're going to be canned one look at these pupils and they appear to be an objecting school of fish the most upto-date way of brailing the catch involves this large scoop called a Spiller and maybe it doesn't fill them there must be literally thousands at a time by this system when better fish are caught these fishermen will catch them after the loading has been completed the various species are separated and counted you great big overgrown minnow actually he's a 40 lb Tha the work is done the caner is the next step where the fish are canned on the same day as they are caught this great salmon industry of British Columbia has won markets the world over and Canada is justly proud of The Saga of the silver hord [Music] e e e e