38 GEOGRAPHICAL EEVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



Below is given a brief account of the past and present fishing interests of the different towns: 



18. BLUE HILL, BBOOXLIN, AND SWAN'S ISLAND. 



BLUE HILL. Blue Hill, a town of 1,700 inhabitants, was first settled in 1702, and incorporated 

 as a town in 1789. It forms the shore line between Surry and Brookliu. The principal business 

 of the town is quarrying and mining, and at present the mining for copper and silver is more 

 extensive here than anywhere else in the State. 



Blue Hill seems never to have been extensively interested in the fisheries, though about 1863 

 many of its people were engaged in the manufacture of menhaden oil from fish taken in nets along 

 the shore. At the present time nothing is done in this line, and the fishing is confined largely to 

 lobstering, clamming, and weir-fishing in the shore waters. Seven lobsternien, set an average 

 of seventy pots each ; after the lobster season is over they fish with lines and trawls for cod and 

 other species, lauding an average of fifty quintals to the man. Others fish occasionally during 

 the mackerel season for home supply and for sale to the canneries. Six weirs are owned in the 

 town, most of them being located on the outlying islands. The value of the weir catch in 1880, 

 including mackerel and herring, was $1,850. Eleven men are engaged in this fishery. In the fall 

 and spring fifteen men are extensively engaged in clamming. The quantity dug in 1880 was 2,000 

 bushels, most of them being shucked and sold as bait. There are two small vessels, with crews of 

 two and three men, respectively, fishing on the inshore grounds. Their catch is usually very 

 small ; in 1880 it amounted in value to only $500. 



BROOKLIN. The fisheries of Brooklin are quite similar to those of Blue Ilill, though the num- 

 ber of people employed is considerably larger. Twenty-eight men fish from April to August for 

 lobsters, setting about one hundred and twenty-five pots each. There are no professional boat- 

 fishermen, but a number go out occasionally for local supply. Six small vessels fish along the shore 

 with trawls, lines, and nets for cod, mackerel, and herring. In 1879 a large schooner was fitted 

 with a purse-seine for catching mackerel. She engaged in the southern fishery in the spring, 

 went to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in summer, and returned in the fall to fish on. the coasts of 

 Maine and Massachusetts. She was sold to Portland in 1880. Two small vessels owned by resi- 

 dents of the town are employed in " running" lobsters to the various canneries of the region. The 

 entire licet, numbering nine sail, is valued at $5,875; they aggregate 194.13 tons, and carry a 

 total of forty-two men. 



Brush weirs were first fished at Brookliu about 1800. In 1880 there were two small ones, 

 the catch of which amounted to 150 barrels of mackerel and 050 barrels of herring, in addition to 

 10,000 boxes of herring that were smoked by the weir-fishermen. 



There are extensive mud-flats in the region, where long-necked clams (Mya aroiaria) are pecu- 

 liarly abundant. An investigation showed that one hundred and seventeen men made a business 

 of digging and shucking clams to be used for bait in the vessel fisheries. The quantity dug is 

 enormous. In the winter of 1879-'80 over 13.000 bushels were shucked and salted, and 1,000 more 

 were used fresh. The value, of the catch was about $4,000. The clamming season lasts from 

 October to the middle of the following May, though little is done in midwinter. Four bushels of 

 shell clatns is an average catch for a tide, and the total for the year is about eight barrels of 

 shucked clams to the man. 



When menhaden were abundant a good many small try-houses were built upon the shore for 

 utilizing the catch of the net-fishermen. At present, on account of the absence of the fish, noth- 

 ing is done in this line. 



In 1870 a lobster cannery was built at Brooklin by Portland capitalists; it has since been in 

 successful operation, and during the present season furnished employment to twenty-five hands. 



