776 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Massachusetts Bay, even to distances of 15 miles from laud. The traps are mostly set in the deep 

 channels of the harbor and among the outer ledges aud islands. The summer fishery is conducted 

 in depths of 1 to 8 fathoms, and the winter in depths of 12 to 16 fathoms or more. The season for 

 fishing in Boston Harbor begins about the middle of April and continues until about the 1st of 

 December. The Massachusetts Bay or deep water fishery is kept up the balance of the year. 

 April and May, September and October are the best months for lobstering. During June, July, 

 and August the catch is said to be much lighter, and lobsters are then considered to be in the 

 poorest condition for eating, very many being soft-shell. The winter catch is almost always 

 insufficient to meet the demand. The lobsters caught in the deeper parts of the bay are stated by 

 the fishermen to run larger in size and to -be thicker shelled and firmer in flesh than those 

 taken in Boston Harbor, also keeping better when boiled. Only about one-fifth as many men are 

 engaged in the winter fishery as in the spring, summer, and fall. 



The ordinary form of lath trap is most commonly employed. The traps are now mostly set 

 in trawls of twenty to forty each, aud a fixed pulh-y attached at or near the bow of the boar, 

 for underruuniug the trawl has recently come into general use. Sometimes as many as five 

 trawls of twenty pots each are handled by a single fisherman. At Hull the trawls are made up 

 of twenty-five pots each. The bait consists of sculpius, flounders, cod and halibut heads, and 

 other so-called refuse fish. The boats are mainly schooner-rigged and built lapstreak ; they 

 are valued at from $50 to $75 each. Some dories are also employed. The only registered lobster 

 smack of the district is the Joseph ; it is schooner-rigged, of 5.77 tons measurement, valued at 

 $50, and is manned by a single fisherman. This schooner fishes for lobsters in Boston and Massa- 

 chusetts Bays, aud carries to Boston. 



The average daily catch per trap, reckoning for the entire year, is about one and a half to 

 two lobsters of marketable size. About Point Shirley a fisherman expects to obtain, on an 

 average, about 100 lobsters per day in all his traps, of which about fifty will be of salable sizes- 

 Lobster fishermen are supposed to earn from $3 to $4 per day, or from $300 to $500 during a 

 season of six mouths. Boston is the only market for the catch of this district excepting the 

 small quantity which may be used locally. At Hull, the ouly fishery receiving any attention is 

 that for lobsters. The fishermen all report a considerable decrease in the abundance and size of 

 lobsters, which they say has been going on steadily from year to year. The cause assigned is 

 overfishing. They also state that it has been their experience that a greater mortality occurs 

 among the lobsters in a car where their claws have been wedged than when they have been left 

 free, and they have therefore abandoned the practice of wedging. 



BOSTON WHOLESALE MARKET. Lobsters are brought to this market in three different ways 

 from the immediate neighborhood, in the small boats of the fishermen, dry, aud from a distance in 

 well smacks, and by railroad, packed in barrels. Although the well smacks bring the largest 

 supplies from distant grounds, thousands of barrels are received every year in good condition, 

 from along the coasls of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, in warm weather protected 

 with ice, but at other times without it. As soou as they are, received they are transferred, at 

 least in the case of the larger dealers, to floating cars, capable of holding from 5,000 to 10,000 lob- 

 sters each, and in which they can be kept alive for some time. About fifteen of these cars are owned 

 in Boston, six of the largest belonging to a single firm, who profess to keep constantly on hand, 

 so far as possible, from five to six days' supplies. A car to hold 10,000 lobsters should measure 

 40 feet long, by 12 feet broad, and 5 feet high. The greatest number of lobsters is received in 

 April and May, the smallest number about February. The sources of supply vary more or less 

 with the season. In summer the most and best lobsters come from the eastward of Deer Isle, 



