668 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Eels are plenty iu this river, and are taken in a conical basket-work trap, 2 feet long. The 

 catch is sent to New York. A few fyke-nets are used in the winter, and the catch of flounders is 

 used at and near home. 



The fisheries of Cole's River in 1879 gave employment to 19 men. The capital, invested in 6 

 small sail-boats, 40 scallop dredges, and 100 dories, amounted to $960. The products, worth $5,332, 

 included 19,200 pounds of eels, and 3,000 pounds of flounders. 



2. BUZZARD'S BAY AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 

 By W. A. WILCOX. 



The Acushnet, Mattapoisett, and Wareham Rivers, aud the minor tributaries of Buzzard's 

 Bay, have always abounded in alewives, eels, and other river species, while the bay itself has been 

 an important fishing ground for menhaden, tautog, oysters, and scallops. About thirty pound- 

 nets are set at various points near the head of the bay. They are worth from $400 to $500 each, 

 their principal catch being menhaden, alewives, tautog, scup, squeteague, bluefish, and eels. A 

 number of unregistered sail-boats, owned at Fairhaven and New Bedford, fish from June 1 to No- 

 vember 1 with hand-lines in the Acushnet River and in the bay, their catch being chiefly tautog, 

 eels, and scup. The oyster and scallop fisheries are discussed in another chapter. 



THE ACUSHNET RIVER. This river is really an arm of Buzzard's Bay for the three miles 

 from its mouth along the Fairhaven aud New Bedford fronts. Above New Bedford it decreases 

 in size to a small stream, no larger than a brook, and takes its rise near the south shores of Long 

 Pond and Aquitticaset Pond, iu the town of Middleborough, 10 miles distant. There are several 

 islands in the stream ; the largest is named Palmer, aud is at the entrance to the harbor. The 

 next to the north are Crow, Pope's, and Fish. This last is united to the long draw-bridge connect- 

 ing Fairhaven and New Bedford. Several other smaller islands, not named, add to the beauty of 

 the river scenery. 



Although the bay and river have always been noted as having an abundance and great 

 variety of scale and shell fish, and the flats and near shores for miles have long been known to 

 abound with quahaugs and clams, until lately there appears to have been but little attention paid 

 to them, except in a small way for home use. Within the past twenty years, as the whale fishery 

 has declined, more attention has been paid to the abundance of fish near home. 



Eels are abundant in the Acushnet, and are mostly caught in a box-trap of simple and cheap 

 construction. This is four feet long, 10 inches wide, with slatted sides. There is a hole in each 

 end 4 inches square. In the aperture are placed two small wooden slats. The eels slide in with 

 ease, the slats opening as they glide in and immediately closing. The box is weighted with stones 

 and baited with clams. At Sconticut Neck within late years the business has steadily grown, the 

 catcli being made with gill-nets, purse and shore seines. 



THE MATTAPOISETT RIVER. Alewives are taken in the Mattapoisett River. One weir is 

 located 4 miles from the river's mouth, and two more at Rochester, 4 miles beyond. For the 

 past 10 years the catch has averaged 900 barrels a year. The catch of 1880, the smallest for 

 twenty years, was 500 barrels, taken at the lower station, and 200 at the upper. The greater por- 

 tion of them are sold fresh through the neighboring towns. A local law fixes the price for a 

 limited supply to the citizens of Mattapoisett, Marion, and Rochester, at 25 cents for a hundred 

 fish. At the northeast entrance to the harbor, on Pine Island, are two weirs. These are fished 

 by four men for six months in the year. At the fishing stations of Mattapoisett, Pine Island, and 



