NEW JERSEY: NORTHERN COAST. 391 



rcg'on about 1875, ami answer tbe purpose of keeping the bait off the bottom. The fishing con- 

 tinues during pleasant weather, the regular fishermen averaging five fishing days in each fortnight 

 from November till the middle of April. The fish leave early in May. 



Cod are quite abundant, as shown by the large catches that are often made. Late in Novem- 

 ber, 1880, four men caught 1,GOO pounds with hand-lines in three and one-half hours, and December 

 7, six men landed 2,COO pounds, as the result of four or five hours' fishing. 



From a careful investigation of the subject it seems quite probable that the cod fishery of 

 this region is destined to become important, and that the number of men engaging in this fishery, 

 both here and in other portions of the State, will increase from year to year, until many of those 

 who now spend a greater part of the winter in idleness will find remunerative employment in this 

 way. The present difficulties are the lack of suitable vessels, and the small size of the trawls. 

 The limited number of harbors will, of necessity, confine the vessel fisheries to a few localities, but 

 by the use of larger boats, together with trawls having three or four times the present number of 

 hooks the business could doubtless be made very profitable. 



NORTHERN NEW JERSEY THE SOUTHERN LIMIT OP THE LOBSTER FISHERY. Lobsters are 

 found all along the New Jersey coast, but not in sufficient numbers in its lower half to warrant the 

 fishermen in engaging in their capture. The lobster fishery of the State is therefore confined to 

 its northern portion, or to the region lying between Sandy Hook and Squan River, this being the 

 southern limit of the lobster fisheries of the United States. The fishermen of Northern New Jersey 

 have been engaged in the capture of the lobster for many years, and about I860 the fishery is said 

 to have been quite important. From that date the business gradually declined, until in 1870 the 

 capture of the species was almost wholly discontinued. In 1872 the fishery again began to revive, 

 and at the present time large quantities of lobsters are taken in the region. In 1880 there were 

 fourteen boats with twenty-eight men engaged regularly in the capture of lobsters in connection 

 with their work in the line and net fisheries, the catch being sold partly in New York and Phila- 

 delphia and partly to the local trade. The pots, which are covered with netting, are usually set 

 in May, and the fishing continues till October, though a few men begin fishing early in March, 

 and others fish till the last of November. 



THE CRABBING- INTEREST. The crab fishery of this district is perhaps more extensive than 

 that of any other portion of the entire coast. It furnishes employment to over five hundred men 

 and boys during four months of the year. The crabs are very abundant in all of the shoal-water 

 bays and rivers of the district, coming out of their winter quarters in the mud in the early spring. 

 The season for shedding begins about the 20th of May and lasts till October. During this period 

 all of the old boats and scows that will float are pressed into service, and many of the unemployed 

 men and boys, and even a number of women, engage in the fishery. There is a limited trade in 

 hard crabs for fish-bait, but usually these are discarded by the fishermen, who reserve only the 

 soft ones and those that are beginning to shed. This is a very profitable employment, and the 

 best fishermen will make $1,000 during the season, while the average for all (boys included) is fully 

 $250. The crab fishery has been prosecuted in this district for a long period of years. As early 

 as 1855 cars were towed behind the boats to receive the "busters" or such as were taken in the act 

 of casting their shells. About twenty years ago the shedding-pens were introduced, and from that 

 date "comers," or those that give evidence of shedding in a day or two, have been saved. For 

 some reason crabbing is confined largely to particular localities Shark, Squan, and the North and 

 South Shrewsbury Rivers being the inost important places. The people of other places almost as 

 favorably located give little attention to crabbing, probably owing to a lack of information of the 



