492 GEOGRAPHICAL EEVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



SCALLOPS TAKEN IN LIMITED QUANTITIES. Just opposite Morehead City, in the waters of 

 Bogue Sound is a large scallop bed. The species has been taken for local supply from this region 

 for many years, and small quantities have been shipped north from time to time. The business 

 reached its height in the winter of 1876-'77, when over a thousand gallons are said to have been 

 shipped, a few going as far north as New York. Since that date the fishing has been wholly for 

 local supply, the price realized by the fishermen being from 40 to 60 cents a gallon. It is said that 

 one can readily secure from 5 to 7 bushels of them at a tide, and that the average yield is 5 or 6 

 quarts of meats to the bushel. 



176. THE FISHERIES OF WILMINGTON AND VICINITY. 



WILMINGTON AS A COMMEECIAL CENTER. Wilmington, the principal seaport town of North 

 Carolina, is situated on the fresh water of the Cape Fear River, about 30 miles above its mouth. 

 It has long been prominent as a market for naval stores, and as a shipping point for the produce 

 of the surrounding country, including cotton, rice, and peanuts. Its trade in lumber is of consid- 

 erable importance. The city has a population of 17,000, the larger part being negroes. 



WILMINGTON'S RELATION TO THE FISHERIES. Wilmington's relation to the fisheries differs 

 considerably from that of any other city on the coast. Its location on the fresh water at a consid- 

 erable distance from the sea renders a vessel fleet impracticable, and its distance by land from the 

 nearest salt-water bays is too great to warrant its people in engaging in the capture of marine 

 species. The fisheries of the city are therefore confined wholly to the capture of shad, herring, 

 sturgeon, and a number of fresh- water species in the river. But the fact that Wilmington has no 

 men engaged in the salt-water fisheries does not prevent it from being a market for marine species. 

 On the contrary, it receives fish, oysters, clams, and shrimp from the inhabitants along the coafct 

 for 30 to 40 miles in either direction. 



A DESCRIPTION OF THE FISHING DISTRICTS TRIBUTARY TO WILMINGTON. While the city 



is nearly 30 miles from the mouth of the river, the shore-line curves inward, so that a few miles 

 north of the cape the salt water is but 7 to 9 miles distant. As in other localities, the coast is 

 bordered by a marshy belt, which is separated from the ocean by a ridge of sand, and there are a 

 large number of inland sounds communicating with each other through diffusely branching tide- 

 creeks. These creeks and sounds extend for miles along either side of the cape, being larger and 

 more numerous on the north than on the south. There are no villages of any size in the vicinity 

 of these sounds, but the higher ridges overlooking them are thickly settled by a class of people 

 who divide their time between the water and the land. At certain seasons, when the fishing is 

 poor, they devote their entire attention to farming, and again, when fish are abundant and the 

 weather is suitable for marketing the catch, they spend most of their time in fishing. At a dis- 

 tance from the city the fishing is most extensive during the winter months, as the catch can be 

 sent to market fresh at this season only. Many fish are also taken in the fall and spring for salting. 

 In the nearer bays the business is prosecuted to a greater or less extent throughout the entire year. 



THE EXTENT OF THE FISHERIES. Prior to 1870 the fishing was confined largely to the cap- 

 ture of mullet from August to December, and the bulk of the catch was salted in barrels, there 

 being at this time no market for fresh fish. Within the past few years, however, Wilmington has 

 developed a large trade in both fresh and salt fish, and the fisheries of the region have gradually 

 increased until in 1879 there were four hundred and forty men, with seventy additional teamsters, 

 engaged in some branch of the fisheries, exclusive of those engaged in the capture of shad, herring, 

 and other fresh-water species, and those in the oyster fisheries. 



The fish are usually taken in seines 150 to 200 yards long, in the various creeks and lagoons 



