THE LOBSTER FIS1IKKY. 



793 



teen boats with twenty-eight men engaged regularly in lobstering in connection with other fisbiug. 

 The catch is sold partly to the local trade and partly to the New York and IMiiladelphia markets, 

 at an average price of 4 cents a pound, netting the fishermen about .':U cents a pound. The total 

 catch for the season of 188(1 was about l.~>t),SOO pounds, worth to the fishermen $5,488. 



SuiiniKit'niii of tin- lobster fisheries <</ JWic .A r,// in 1830. 



Number of iisliermeu 28 



Number of boats 14 



Value of same |280 



Number of lobster pots 500 



Value of same x7.Mi 



Total amount of capital invested... iSl,n:iii 



or ".rn.ss stork to a. I mat. for the season. $-l. r i() 



Number of barrels of bait used iil-l 



Value of same $157 



Total eatc-h for 1880, in pounds 156,800 



Value of same to the fishermen $5,488 



DELAWARE. 



There is uo lobster fishery within the limits of this State, although lobsters occur sparingly 

 about the Delaware Breakwater, and are occasionally captured by those who desire them for their 

 own use. One or more are sometimes hauled ashore in drag-seines or gill-nets, or are caught on 

 the hooks of the fishermen. The areas in which lobsters are said to be most abundant are those 

 resorted to by vessels for anchorage, and this would interfere with the setting of pots were 

 there any inclination to engage in fishing. At the most but a few hundred pounds of lobsters are 

 taken annually. Mr. A. T. Burbage, of Ocean View, Del., states that he has occasionally seen 

 lobsters along the beach, in the surf, near Indian River Inlet, Delaware. But rare instances of 

 the presence of lobsters south of Delaware have been noted. Two or three have, however, been 

 recorded from the northeastern corner of Virginia, and in October, 1884, the U. S. Fish Commission 

 steamer Albatross, obtained a single specimen of good size off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 

 from a depth of about 30 fathoms, by means of the beam trawl. 



STATISTICAL, RECAPITULATION OF THE LOBSTER INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1880. 

 Table of the lobster industry of tin' I'nilnl Slu/i'x iu 1880.* 



Fishery. 



Tin- total value of the pioducts as they enter into consumption is intended t" represent tin- value of all tin- lobsters sold iu 1880, as 

 they pass tinm tin.- hands of the wholesale dealers, in the three largest markets of the country, Portland, linstoii, and New York; from the 

 fishermen who ilo not supply these markets, and from the canneries. The figures of this column and of the column of "Total amount of 

 eapital in \csted." so far as they are made up from the "Amount of capital invested in the wholesale markets," and the "Enhancement in 

 \alue in wholesale markets" are large!\ i hi- result of estimates, ilost of the lobster markets deal oven more extensively in other kinds of 

 tish, and it has, therefore, been impossible to piopeiU separate the lobster capital from the fish capital. As to enhancement in value, 

 prices fluctuate so im:eh that an exact average could not be determined upon. For instance, iu New York, wholesale prices range 

 from to -'", cents per pound, the latter price being demanded even during the height of the season, when the demand and sales are 

 greatest. No a< count has been taken of the b-ssi i \* hob sab- markets, as no returns of their sales were made by the field agents. Of the 

 I'd. ll'x. (133 pounds ol lobsieis taken and sold by the fishermen, we have, therefore, figured an enhancement in value only on the following: 

 9,494,'J.-! pounds used by the canneries; K, 11117. fi. r >4 pounds handled m 1%, it land, Boston, and New York a total of 17,561, 93s pounds ; leaving a 

 balance of over 2,500,000 pounds, which remain at the li -hei men - prices. It can be safely asserted, with lefereuee to the balance of the 

 table, that it is founded on as .MI, t data as it was possible to collect of so scattered an industry. The cannery statistics were taken IVoiii 

 the. books of tin- canneries. 



