180 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



the men fislied on shares, they then being naturally willing and anxious to save them, but as the 

 men are not at present so much personally interested in the voyage, some receiving stated wages, 

 not many are saved. The livers are preserved in large vats until the vessel is within a short dis- 

 tance of home, when, the oil having been drawn off, they are thrown overboard. If the livers are 

 fresh and but lately caught, they are brought into port and subjected to a steaming process. The 

 average yield of oil is one-half gallon to a quintal of fish. When the fishing is carried on by 

 means of trawls, each boat is provided with trawls armed with from 1,000 to 2,000 hooks, the 

 average being about 1,200. 



The present price of cod varies but little from that of forty years ago, when it was $2.75 to 

 $3.50 per quintal. Curing 1879 the price was $3.25 to $3.50 per quintal. Forty years ago the 

 business was profitable, while at present, with higher prices, it hardly pays expenses, and the trips 

 often result in a loss on account of the present rate of wages and the cost of outfit, which are 

 proportionately larger than is the advanced price of cod. 



The record for 1879 shows that the active fishing fleet consisted of fifteen sail, aggregating 

 897.12 tons register, engaged in the cod fishery, ten of which went to the Grand Banks. One of 

 the Bankers made two trips and another was lost on her second trip. No lives were lost during 

 the year. One of the fleet made a trip to Banquereau. 



On account of the poor encouragement which the fishermen have received in late years, five fish- 

 ing vessels remained idle throughout the year 1879, while five others, with an aggregate tonnage of 

 001.97, were engaged for a part of the year only in coasting. These make up a total of twenty- 

 five vessels of 1,499.09 tons. 



The schooner D. A. Wilson made only one trip in 1879 to the Grand Banks, during which she 

 took 1,700 quintals of fish and thereby cleared $1,000. For the past forty years or more, during 

 which time trawl-fishing has come into general use, there has been no marked change either one 

 way or the other in the abundance of cod. In trawling, five or six dories, with two men to a dory, 

 are used. In hand-lining only one man goes in a dory, and eight to fourteen dories are used by a 

 single vessel. Cod are usually taken in from 30 to 40 fathoms of water; in 5 to 20 fathoms only, 

 on the Virgin Rocks. 



SALEM. Twenty years ago this port had a fleet of vessels engaged in fishing, and twenty-five 

 sail went to George's and Grand Banks for cod. From 1SCO to 1868 ten vessels engaged in the 

 mackerel catch, besides numerous vessels which were engaged in the near-home shore fishing. A 

 number of vessels were yearly built for fishing, and quite a large foreign demand was supplied 

 from this port. The custom-house records of the early fishery business of this place are very imper- 

 fect and broken. Our principal information comes from the old dealers, but from them we can get 

 no reliable statistics. At the present time the fishing industry is almost abandoned. The wharves 

 along Derby street, once crowded with business connected with the fisheries, are now covered with 

 lumber and coal, or else lie idle, wearing a deserted appearance. One wholesale firm alone remains. 

 Only ten vessels have been built here in the past ten years, and none during the past two, in which 

 time no fish have been exported. 



During 1879 ten fishing licenses were granted to four vessels over and six under 20 tons each, 

 the aggregate tonnage being 274.47. Of this number four were used only for fishing parties; one 

 was engaged in the squid fishery off Newfoundland, supplying the fishermen with fresh bait; two 

 went to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence for mackerel, one of which caught only 9G barrels throughout 

 the entire season, the trip resulting in a loss ; and three vessels fished near home. 



The lobster fishery is followed by thirty men, using fifteen boats. They use 1,000 lobster pots 

 and fish all the year from boats, weather permitting, The pots are all set single in and about the 



