260 GEOGRAPHICAL REA^IEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



five men are engaged in fishing. The principal fishery is the boat line-fishery. About fifty boats, 

 one-third of them carrying two men, are employed. In spring, Irom April to the 1st of June, 

 one-half of the boats are employed in the shore cod fishery, and the total catch amounts to 

 about i'50,000 pounds of cod. About the 1st of June the blue-fishing begins. All the boats arc 

 employed in this fishery for ten or twelve weeks, according to the condition of the weather and the 

 abundance of the fish. A -small number of striped bass arc also taken by the bluefish fishermen. 

 In November the boats are hauled up, and are not in use again until the latter part of March. 



Two gangs of seiners, each composed of four men, are engaged from the 1st of June to the 

 last of September in seining bluefish, bass, and other species. They employ two seine-boats, 

 about- i.~> feet in length, and own four seines, each 150 fathoms long, and worth $300. 



Every winter about 300 barrels of eels are caught, and some 15,000 lobsters are taken 

 annually. Bluelish are usually sent to New York either in ice or in smacks. Soft clams and 

 quahaugs are abundant in the harbor, and are used by the fishermen for bait. The whale fishery, 

 which has been prosecuted at Edgartown for many years, is still carried on. Seven whaling vessels 

 are owned, which, with their outfits, involve a capital of $128,000. 



Oak Bluffs, a village in Edgartown, is a well-known cam p-meeting ground. There are also 

 several hotels and boarding-houses annually resorted to by thousands of people, who spend much 

 of their time in the summer months in fishing in the neighboring waters. 



TISBURY. Holmes' Hole, or Vineyard Haven, situated at the northeastern part of the town 

 of Tisbury, is not at present extensively engaged in the fisheries, nor dependent upon them. Like 

 Edgartown, the village is largely sustained by the wealth of the many retired captains of mer- 

 chant and whaling vessels who have made their residence here. 



In April and May, and again in October and November, four boats usually go from Holmes 1 

 Hole to No Man's Land to fish for cod. The average annual catch of each boat is about 10,000 

 pounds of cod. The fish arc quite small, often weighing only ;> or 1 pounds. A cod weighing 40 

 pounds is considered very large. Five cat-rigged boats are employed in June, and also duritig 

 portions of May and July, in the bluefish fishery with hand-lines. The total annual catch of 

 blnetish is about 3.>,000 pounds. No person at Holmes' Hole makes his whole living by fishiug, 

 and even those who have been mentioned as fishing at different seasons let their boats in summer 

 to pleasure parties. 



There is an ale-wife-river near Holmes' Hole belonging to the town of Tisbury, from which 

 about 150,000 alewives are annually taken. One-tenth, formerly one-sixth, of the catch is reserved 

 by the town and sold to pay for the clearing of the river. This share is annually bought by Mr. 

 Crowell. The alewives are chiefly sold to fishing ves:-cl.s Icr bait, and are also in part sent to New 

 Bedford. 



NORTH SHORE OF MARTHA'S VINEYARD. The northern shore of Maltha's Vineyard, from 

 Lombard's Cove, 5 miles to the westward of the West Chop of Vineyard Haven, to Gay Head, is 

 occupied at irregular intervals by weirs. In 1880 there were two i:i Lombard's Cove, one three- 

 quarters of a mile and one about 3 miles to the westward, and four in Menemsha Bight, near 

 Gay Head. With the exception of one iu Menemsha Bight, which has two leaders and two heart 

 pieces, all are single weirs, having but one leader, heart, and bowl. All, without exception, are 

 constructed of netting and poles. They are usually placed in position every year, about the last 

 of May or the 1st of June, and are removed either before or not later than the 15th day of Sep- 

 tember. From two to four men are, required to tend the weirs. The principal species of fish 

 caught are scup, squeteague, bluefish, striped bass, bonito, tautog, mackerel, menhaden, ale- 

 wives, sea-herring, and flounders. The larger proportion of the, fish are sent to New Yoik in ice, 



