110 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



schooner-rigged, and with a crew of one or two men are employed in trawl and hand-line fishing 

 off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. This fishing is carried on for about 

 six months of the year, and most of the catch is sold to Portsmouth dealers. 



Lobster-pots are set around the ledges at the mouth of the harbor from Kittery, Me., to 

 Odiorue's Point. The lobsters are mostly sold at Portsmouth, and distributed, boiled or alive, 

 through the adjacent towns. A small part of the catch goes to Boston market. A State law pro- 

 hibiting the capture of small lobsters is well observed, the lobsters being of very good size, though 

 of late years not very abundant. As in other New England fishing ports, the fishermen of Ports- 

 mouth are accustomed to save the livers of fish for the manufacture of fish-oil. The firm of Mar- 

 vin Brothers is engaged in the preparation of crude and medicinal cod-oil, and during the year 

 1879 produced 150 barrels of the former and 120 barrels of the latter grade of oil. 



According to the census report on the oyster industry, by Ernest Ingersoll, published in 1881, 

 " there are only two dealers in Portsmouth who trade in oysters by wholesale and at first hand. 

 They each send a schooner to Virginia in April, the voyage lasting about three weeks, and bring 

 a load of 2,300 to 2,600 bushels each. Nearly the same course is pursued here as in Boston. Tbe 

 captain is given sufficient money to probably fill his vessel, and told to do the best he can with it ; 

 but he is not given a rate of freight per bushel, as in Portland, but hired at a given sum, which, 

 in 1878, was $425. This amounts, however, to about the same thing as the 18 cents a bushel paid 

 for freight to Portland and Boston. All these 5,000 bushels of oysters are bedded down on the 

 banks of the river in Portsmouth Harbor, a mile or so below the city, where the ebb-tide leaves 

 them nearly dry. They last through to the middle of October, with the help of a few 'fancy' 

 oysters from New York for the retail-counter. The cost per bushel of these oysters, as delivered 

 in the establishment, varies from 40 to 50 cents, and the average selling price, at wholesale, is 75 

 cents. 



u In the winter no vessels come from Virginia, and all supplies are drawn from Norfolk by 

 steamer to Boston, and thence by rail, or, in emergency, by buying in Boston or Portland. These 

 are almost wholly opened oysters, in barrels and kegs. Not more than 1,000 bushels, all told, are 

 supposed to come into Portsmouth during the winter, in the shell. These cost 50 to GO cents. Of 

 the others, I could get nothing better than estimates from each dealer, which, added together, 

 give about 45 barrels, or 1,350 gallons, as the combined importation. Perhaps 150 gallons more 

 come from Boston, in emergencies. The whole consumption of Portsmouth, then, seems to cost 

 about as follows : 



Oysters iu vessels, 5,000 bushels $3,500 



Oysters in shell, otherwise 500 



Oysters opened (about) 750 



Oysters, fancy and extra (about) 750 



4,500 



" The oyster establishments 'employ G men, paid from $G to $15 per week. In all, 25 persons 

 are supported by the trade. No planting has ever been done at Portsmouth, and even those 

 bedded down in the harbor show little growth of shell or body. To supply Dover, N. H., a few 

 miles above, about 2,000 bushels of Chesapeake oysters are brought up each spring and laid down 

 in Cocheco River, near the town. A proportionate winter supply comes by rail." 



The fishing industry of Portsmouth in 1879 employed twenty-four vessels and thirty-five boats. 

 Some 200 7nen were engaged in fishing, while about 30 men worked ashore in curing and packing 

 the catch. The total capital invested in the business was about $200,000, and the value of the 



