THE CRAB FISHERIES. 637 



from Sandy Hook to Baruegat lulet, the crab fishery is of great importance, but farther south it is 

 as yet of very little account. 



Between the two places above mentioned this industry is perhaps more extensive than in any 

 similar district of the entire coast, giving employment, as it does, to over five hundred men and 

 boys during at least four months of the year. As a rule, only soft crabs, or those about to shed, 

 are taken for food, but there is also a certain trade in hard crabs, which are used for fish bait a.s 

 well as food. The soft crabs bring from four to eight times as much as the hard ones, the price 

 depending upon their abundance. 



Notwithstanding the immense quantities of crabs annually taken on this coast, there appears 

 to have been no decrease in their numbers, and they continue as plentiful now as they have been 

 iu former years. This may be accounted for by the fact that the female crabs have spawned 

 before shedding, or at least do not carry spawn on the outside of the body during the shedding 

 season, and hence but few crabs with matured spawn are taken and destroyed. Crabs vary in 

 abundance, however, from year to year, being more plentiful some years than others, and a very 

 cold winter is said to kill large numbers, and make them less abundant the following spring. One 

 correspondent informs us that they are most abundant on the shore at times of full and new moon, 

 but this may be due to the fact that at such times the tides ebb lower and leave a greater breadth 

 of shore exposed. The enactment of a law in some places to protect the crabs in winter has had 

 the desired effect of increasing their abundance in the following spring and summer. 



Crabs can be taken throughout the year, but the regular season, when they are most easily 

 obtained and the only season when the soft crabs are found, is from April or May to November. 

 The best months are said to be June, July, August, and September. After October or November 

 they must generally be sought for in from 6 to 20 feet of water, with long handled tongs, which 

 are sometimes employed, but the winter fishery is of slight importance. Crabs do not, however, 

 always go into deep water in the winter, for they sometimes bed in the shallow channels and inlets, 

 and in such locations the winter mortality is great if the weather becomes unusually severe. 



The common method of capturing crabs in the summer is with a crab or scoop net, having 

 the ring or hoop about I foot in diameter and the handle from 7 to 8 feet long. In water too 

 deep for the use of the scoop net alone, lines baited with raw meat or fish are employed to 

 entice the hard crabs to the surface. Small hauling seines are also sometimes used. For the 

 winter fishery long-handled tongs or rakes are brought into play. In those sections where the 

 crab fishery amounts to a regular industry, not only are the soft crabs secured, but also the 

 " comers" and " busters," which are kept in cars until they shed. 



As stated above, the crab fishery of New Jersey is mostly confined to the section of coast 

 between Sandy Hook and Barnegat Inlet, and, in fact, as a regular industry, it is mainly limited 

 to a few localities, such as Shark, Squan, and the North and South Shrewsbury Rivers. But 

 considerable quantities of crabs are also taken along the entire northern coast, and smaller 

 amounts toward the south. The greater part of the entire catch during the summer is sent away. 

 A certain quantity is used by the inhabitants of the coast, and a large number are sold to 

 summer hotels, boarding-houses, and restaurants iu the crabbing region. At Atlantic City, where 

 the number of summer visitors is very great, the demand for crabs equals the entire supply 

 caught in the neighborhood. At the same place crabbing is pursued as a pastime by the summer 

 visitors and some twenty to thirty men and boys are engaged in assisting these amateur crabbing 

 parties. Fifty to one hundred persons may be seen at times on pleasant days occupied iu this 

 way, and this fishery is now considered by many as better sport than that with hook and line. 

 A winter fishery was attempted along the Southern New Jersey coast several years ago, but it did 



