MAINE: WALDOBORO' DISTRICT. 61 



town Lave never engaged in cither the Labrador or George's cod fisheries, or in the bank halibut 

 fisheries ; they have sent no vessels south for mackerel, and have iised purse seines only to a 

 limited extent. 



The fleet at present numbers thirty-three sail, all but nine being under 25 tons. Two fish on 

 Qnereau and Western Banks, one visits Cape Sable and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, while the 

 remaining thirty are interested in shore trawling, herring netting, and mackerel dragging. 



THE BOAT-FISHERIES. One hundred and ten men are employed in the boat-fisheries from 

 Bristol, and twenty others are engaged in lobsteriug and clamming for three or four mouths. 

 Several fish-dealers do a large business, buying extensively from the boats and vessels of the 

 region ; and parties at South Bristol have a number of vessels engaged in the offshore cod fisheries. 

 If we include the quantity dried for family use, there were not less than 14,700 quintals of fish 

 cured in the town in 1879. 



THE MENHADEN INDUSTRY. During the past fifteen years the menhaden fisheries of Maine 

 have grown to enormous proportions, and Bristol has come to be the center of the fishery for the 

 entire State. This industry has had a decided influence in reducing the value of the boat-fisheries 

 of the town, which are now far less important than they were ten to twenty years ago. The first 

 oil and guano factory was built here in 1804, and in 1878 the number had increased to eleven 

 factories, valued, with machinery and fixtures, at 8750,000. Twenty-nine steamers were engaged in 

 the fishery, and five hundred fishermen with two hundred additional factory hands were employed. 

 According to Mr. Luther Maddocks, secretary of the Maine Oil and Guano Association, these facto- 

 ries produced 1,176,310 gallons of oil and 12,588 tons of crude guano from 431,000 barrels of fish; 

 and in addition sold 8,000 barrels of bait to the fishermen of the coast. Since 1878, owing to the 

 absence of the fish, the factories have not been in operation. 



OTHER FISHERY INTERESTS. Bristol has four or five deep-water traps, in which considerable 

 bait is taken for the shore-fishermen ; and there are several small weirs in the rivers for the capture 

 of alewives and smelts. The catch is of little importance, the greater part being used locally. 

 Lobsters are abundant in the shore waters, and many are taken at certain seasons, the winter 

 lobster fisheries being quite important. Clams also are quite plenty, and a good many are dug by 

 the fishermen of John's Bay and John's River; but in other localities little attention is paid to 

 them. 



BOAT AND VESSEL BUILDING. Capitalists of Bristol have been extensively engaged in ship- 

 building for many years, and since 1853 sixty-three fishing vessels and ten menhaden steamers have 

 been built in the town. The ship-yards are mostly at South Bristol, and a majority of the business 

 has been done at that village. The town probably ranks second only to Boothbay for the entire 

 State in this particular industry. Several firms are extensively engaged in boat-building, and 

 quite a number of dories and other boats are built yearly for the fishermen of this and adjoining 

 towns. One party has been employed in this work regularly for eighteen years, and has built as 

 high as twenty boats in a single season. 



MUSCONGUS ISLAND. Muscongus Island, locally known as Loud's Island, is so closely con- 

 nected with Bristol in its fishing interests as to be properly considered with that town. It is about 

 three miles long by half to three-fourths of a mile wide. It lies a little to the eastward of the 

 town of Bristol and has a population of 142, engaged in farming and fishing. Several small fishing 

 vessels have been owned there from time to time, but at present the largest are mere boats, all 

 being too small to '-paper". The boat fishermen engage in lobsteriug, trawling, and hand-lining 

 during a greater part of the year, selling their catch of fish mostly to dealers at Round Pond and 



