MAINE: BELFAST DISTRICT. 49 



'though noue have been salted for fish-bait this season as iu previous years. Of the 5,000 bushels 

 dug, about one-half have been shipped to other places. On account of their fine flavor the Belfast 

 clams are considered superior to those of any other locality, and they always find a ready market 

 iu our neighboring cities and towns where they arc known. It would be impossible to form any 

 correct estimate of the large quantity of flounders taken here during the year. This branch of the 

 lishiug is followed, not only by our local fishermen, but there is a little multitude of boys who 

 throng the heads of the piers and the bridge for weeks, to fish fcr flounders. The fish are neatly 

 dressed and strung in bunches (usually twelve in a bunch) for the market. Thousands of bunches 

 are shipped to cities and towns in this vicinity. 



"Although Belfast is not engaged in the salmon fishery to any great extent, there is probably 

 no place in the State where more Peuobscot salmon are sold. The past season, 1879, there were 

 about 25,000 pounds of Peuobscot salmon sold (by the fishermen iu this vicinity) to the marketmeu 

 and inhabitants here; of this amount not more than 2,000 pounds were shipped to other places, 

 the rest being consumed locally. Salmon are no longer a luxury here, to be enjoyed by the rich 

 only, but during plentiful seasons they are now often sold by our local dealers as low as ten cents 

 per pound. Through the untiring efforts of the Fish Commission, for the past eight years, in 

 restocking the Penobscot River, this once rare and delicate fish has been placed within the reach 

 of the poor as well as the rich, and to-day the Peuobscot is, iu every respect, a salmon stream." 



KOKTHPOKT. Northport, lying just south of Belfast, on Belfast Bay, is a town with a scattered 

 population, engaged largely in agriculture, though a few of its inhabitants are more or less 

 dependent upon the sea. A number of small coasting vessels are owned by the residents and 

 some of the men are interested in the salmon fisheries during a portion of the year. As the town 

 has no fishing fleet, the catch of marine species is very limited, the work being largely confined to 

 the capture of mackerel during a few weeks in mid-summer, while a number of parties take lobsters 

 and clams to a limited extent for local supply. 



25. CAMDEN AND ITS FISHERIES. 



The town of Cauideu, which includes the villages of Camdeu and Rockport, forms the western 

 bank of the Penobscot River between Rocklaud and Lincolnville. It was settled in 1709, and 

 incorporated in 1791. 



According to Messrs. J. and B. C. Adams, Camdeu was for many years extensively interested 

 in the fisheries, and had a fleet of 15 to 20 schooners engaged iu the Labrador, Magdalen, bank, 

 and shore fisheries, with a considerable number of others from the Fox Islands that came to Cam- 

 den for their fittings. Later the causes that led to the decline of the fisheries of the region affected 

 Camdeu equally with the other places, and, after a few unprosperous years, the business was 

 almost wholly discontinued. At present the fishing fleet of the town, including the two lobster 

 smacks owned at Rockport, is made up of five sail vessels and one steamer. Three of the vessels 

 are engaged exclusively iu the mackerel fisheries, and the others, including the steamer, are 

 employed in the transportation of fishery products. The steamer carries herring, mackerel, and 

 clams to the canneries at the village, and the smacks "run" lobsters to Portland and Boston. 



The boat fisheries are of little importance. A number of men from both Cainden and Rock- 

 port are interested in the lobster fisheries; others go to the outer islands occasionally to fish for 

 cod and other species; while all, with many of the shoresmen, are engaged in "hooking" mackerel 

 for several weeks in summer. 



A lobster cannery was built at Camdeu, by Portland capital, in 1878, and during the past season 

 thirty hands were employed iu canning lobsters and mackerel. In the summer of 1880 a sardine 



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