VIRGINIA: GENERAL REVIEW OF ITS FISHERIES. 



Detailed slattmcnl of tin' quantities ami ralncx of the products. 



453 



B. DESCRIPTION OF THE FISHERIES BY COUNTIES. 



102. PRINCESS ANNE, NORFOLK, AND ELIZABETH CITY COUNTIES. 



Princess Anue County was formed in 1GC9 from Norfolk. It is 30 miles long, with a mean 

 breadth of 20 miles. It lies on the Atlantic Ocean, with Chesapeake Bay on the north, Norfolk 

 County on the west, and North Carolina on the south. The surface is level, and the land generally 

 good. On account of the mildness of the climate and the fertility of the soil, the people devote 

 themselves principally to truck-farming, obtaining a ready market for their products in Baltimore 

 and Norfolk. The watershed of the county drains to the south into Currituck Sound, on the west 

 into Elizabeth River, and on the east into Lynn Haven Bay. The extensive coast-line of the 

 county and the fresh-water swamps of the interior furnish abundant facilities for the development 

 of important fishing industries. The greater profit to be derived from the cultivation of the soil, 

 however, attracts to it all but a very small part of the population. On Straight Beach, which 

 extends from Cape Henry to the North Carolina line, several seines are regularly fished by gangs 

 of men from Norfolk. The product of these fisheries is carried in carts overland to Norfolk, and 

 either sold to hucksters or hawked about the streets. 



FISHERIES OF BAT SHOKE AND SEASIDE IN PRINCESS ANNE AND NORFOLK COUNTIES. 

 From Sewell's Point, around Willoughby Point, to Cape Henry south, are two pounds and a num- 

 ber of haul-seines engaged in the spot fishing. Gray trout, salmon trout and tailors are also 

 taken in considerable numbers, but spot constitute four-fifths of the catch and the motive of the 

 fishing. The construction of the pounds presents nothing peculiar, but the mode of fishing the 

 haul-seines is unique, so far as my observation has extended. The movement of the fish is up the 

 beach in the spring of the year and down in the fall, without reference to the set of the currents. 

 Again, the seine can only be hauled on the slack of the tide. It is put out on one slack and hauled 

 on the next, and it is consequently anchored out during one tide. A single anchor at the end is all 

 that is necessary when the tide bellies the seine. When the tide is against the back of the seine 

 intermediate anchors are placed to keep the seine in position. The anchors are attached to the 

 cork-line and the bottom-line is very heavily leaded to prevent shifting. In fishing the seine, the 

 sea end is first landed so as to inclose the fish, and is then beached as in the ordinary haul-seines. 

 These seines are fished spring and fall; the fall fishing ending after the first big storm in October. 

 These seines and outfits cost from $300 to $700, and average a crew of ten men and a captain. 



