93 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OP THE FISHERIES. 



tide, and even at bigb water only small and medium-sized vessels, such as those usually employed 

 in fishing and coasting, can enter. 



The first recorded residence of Europeans on this portion of the coast was in ihe latter part of 

 1C1 6. During that year an expedition, consisting of thirty-two men, under the leadership of Capt. 

 Bichard Vines, was sent over from England by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, for the purpose of pros- 

 pecting the territory granted to the Plymouth Company by King James ten years earlier. The 

 company arrived in September and spent the winter at Biddeford Pool, which they christened 

 "Winter Harbor, a name that is still retained by the outer harbor. At that time there were no 

 whites in Massachusetts, and the nearest English neighbors were at Jamestown, Va. For much 

 of the time during the next seven years Captain Vines and others were engaged in transporting 

 colonists to this coast, and numerous settlements were made before the close of that period. 



The first settlers, we are told, derived their principal support from the sea, which furnished 

 them not only with food, but with a ready article of barter. So absolutely dependent were they 

 upon the fisheries that between the years 1661 and 1665 the greater part of the salary of the 

 resident minister, Rev. Seth Fletcher, was paid in sea-products. We may add that to this day 

 fishing has continued to-be the most important industry of the place, and that at the present 

 time the pulpit is filled by a fisherman from Cape Porpoise. 



The small vessels owned at Biddeford Pool are engaged principally in fishing for ground fish 

 along the coast between Boon Island and Cape Elizabeth. The catch is taken with hand-lines 

 and trawls, and consists principally of cod, hake, haddock, and pollock. 



A portion of the fleet is engaged in the lobster fisheries during part of the year. Over 1,200 

 lobster-pots are fished among the islands in Saco Bay and along the outer shore. Eleven men 

 engage in the business for ten mouths in the year, and ten more, who are employed in the capture 

 of ground fish during the summer, go lobstering for five months. 



As the water grows cold in the fall, the lobsters gradually work into deeper water, and pots 

 are set as far as seven miles southeast of Wood Island at a depth of from 30 to 50 fathoms, where 

 individuals of large size are frequently taken. Lobsters have decreased both in number and size 

 of late years. In 1876, sixty-five would fill a barrel, but now (1880) ninety are required. The total 

 catch of lobsters in the town during 1879 reached 238,000 in number. 



Those engaged in the lobster fisheries report considerable quantities of large shrimp in the 

 deeper waters of the vicinity. Thus far no one has engaged in their capture to any extent, and, 

 none having been sent to market, the fishermen have very little idea of their value. If the species 

 is abundant as represented, there is every reason to believe that a fishery will soon be developed, 

 and that it will be found to yield large returns to those who engage in it. 



The bottom of the pool is covered with well-stocked clam beds, which are exposed at low tide, 

 when, with the exception of one narrow channel, it is left entirely dry. These flats are "worked" 

 by ten men for eight mouths in the year, and produce annually 2,600 bushels of clams, which are 

 usually sold to the large hotels of the town or carried by peddlers to the villages of the interior. 



The State allows any and all fishermen to dig clams for bait whenever they desire, but by law 

 of the town none but its own citizens are permitted to take them for sale. This law, however, is 

 not very strictly enforced. A cannery was built here in 1868, and, with the exception of the 

 seasons of 1872 and 1873, from 4,000 to 7.000 bushels of clams were packed annually up to 1876, 

 when the business was discontinued. The working season lasted during October and November 

 of each year. The supply of clams was purchased from the local fishermen at prices varying from 

 30 to 50 cents a bushel. 



For many years large schools of spawning herring have annually made their appearance in the 



