642 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



necessarily at great depths, as they are often taken by means of oyster tongs ; but during this 

 season their flesh is generally regarded as soft and watery. The crab season extends more or less 

 continuously from March to November, beginning earlier at some places than at others. Soft crabs 

 are generally preferred for ordinary use; they are regarded as the greater delicacy, and the demand 

 for them greatly exceeding the supply, they sell at a much higher price than the hard crabs, but 

 only the latter kind is used at the canneries. 



The fishery is carried on by means of trot-lines and crab-nets, but the crabs are also taken 

 incidentally in fish seines, sometimes in immense numbers, to the great annoyance of the fisher- 

 men, and in oyster tongs. The latter appliance is regularly used in the winter months by a few 

 crabbers in Lynnhaven Bay and other brackish waters. The trot lines employed on the Virginia 

 coast are from 600 to 700 feet long, with the lateral lines 18 inches to 2 feet long and 18 inches 

 apart. In Hampton Eoads the crabbers who fish for the canneries use trot-lines, of which the 

 main line consists of <iOO feet of one-half inch manilla rope, the lateral lines being of much smaller 

 size, 2 feet long and placed at intervals of 18 inches. Beef tripe is used as bait. The ends of the 

 lines are furnished with anchors and buoys, aiid each one is attended by a single man in a small 

 skiff. About seventy -five men with these trot-lines and boats are in the employ of the Hampton 

 canneries. In hot weather the lines must be overhauled daily to replace the missing baits, but in 

 cold weather two baitings a week are sufficient. Large boats are sent out to collect the crabs from 

 the fishermen and carry them to the canneries several times a day. In other localities sting-ray 

 flaps are sometimes used as bait. 



Fishing is carried on for the canneries every week-day during the season, in depths of 6 to 14 

 feet of water, in the immediate vicinity of Hampton. The average daily catch per man is from 

 sixty to seventy-five dozen, but catches of two hundred and fifty dozen, equal to 10 barrels hi 

 bulk, have been recorded for the same length of time. The mild winter of 1879-'80 caused the 

 crabs to be more abundant in the following spring, but during cold winters many die and are cast 

 upon the beaches by the waves. In 1880 the first spawners were seen by the first of March, but 

 they do not visually appear until April. The height of the spawning season is from May to August, 

 although many spawners are seen as late as November. 



Although the larger part of the crabs caught on the Virginia coast, or, more strictly speaking, 

 at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, are for the use of the Hampton canneries, a great many are 

 also used fresh along the shores where they are taken, and considerable quantities are sent to the 

 northern markets and to the interior towns of Virginia. Boats come into Hampton Roads and 

 the surrounding region from Baltimore to catch and buy crabs for the markets of that city, and 

 other regular shipments are made to the same place. From the first of May to the middle of June, 

 New York receives nearly all of her supplies of soft crabs from the Virginia coast and Chesapeake 

 Bay, but after the middle of June or the first of July the weather becomes too warm to ship them 

 without great loss. Outside of the canneries, therefore, the principal crab industry of the Virginia 

 coast is of only about three months' duration, from March or April to July. The canning business, 

 however, continues until November. Soft crabs are packed for shipment in boxes with seaweeds, 

 but hard crabs are sent in barrels. Crisfield, Md., on the Chesapeake, does a very large trade in 

 crabs, which are shipped to Philadelphia and Baltimore. About one hundred and fifty men are 

 engaged in this industry in the neighborhood of that place during the crabbing season. 



Blue crabs are extensively used as bait for nearly all kinds of fish at the mouth of Chesapeake 

 Bay and on the outer coast of Virginia. Soft, crabs are preferred, but hard crabs are used when 

 the former are not obtainable. 



NORTH CAROLINA. Blue crabs are very abundant on this coast, where they often receive the 



