532 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



4. DISPOSITION OF THE CATCH. 



At the beginning of the trout season many of the farmers from the interior of the State, 

 residing in some cases a distance of 30 or 40 miles from the nearest fishing stations, drive to the 

 villages nearest the shores of Delaware Bay, and frequently even to the beaches where fishing 

 is being carried on. Here they remain until they are able to purchase a supply of trout, which 

 they buy fresh as the fish are taken alive from the water. Having obtained a sufficient amount 

 for their purposes at least for the day, they proceed to dress and salt them. In doing this they 

 cut off the heads and tails ; the viscera and air-bladders are removed, and the fish are then split, 

 washed, and salted. 



It is estimated by Mr. M. S. Van Burkalow, of Magnolia, who is interested in the fisheries and 

 is an extensive buyer of trout sounds or air-bladders, that three-fourths of a pound of dried sounds 

 may be obtained from a bushel of trout, and as sounds sell at a price ranging from 75 cents to $1 

 per pound, it is evident that the cost of the fish to the farmer is merely nominal, since he rarely 

 pays more than 50 cents a bushel for the fish. 



Having secured enough fish to last through the year, the farmer packs them on his cart and 

 hauls them away to his home. In addition to the trout that are sold in the manner above described, 

 many are disposed of to peddlers who resort to the fishing- stations to purchase their supplies, 

 which they hawk about through the villages and adjacent farming districts. 



Mr. Samuel Wyatt, of Bowers' Beach, says : " In the spring the fishermen sell their catch of 

 trout to farmers from the interior towns, who, after buying their fish, dress and salt them for their 

 own use. There are also twelve peddlers who buy trout and hawk them about the villages and 

 farming districts. The average price for which the fish are, sold is 40 cents per bushel." 



It is estimated by a number of the most intelligent observers at the fishing stations that about 

 three-fourths of the catch of trout is sold in a fresh condition to the farmers, and it is said that 

 this species of fish constitutes an important part of the food supply of the rural population of 

 Delaware. A comparatively small amount of trout is shipped to Philadelphia and other large 

 towns, and a considerable percentage of the fish which are not sold in a fresh condition to the 

 farmers and peddlers are salted by the fishermen and retailed to the country trade during the fall 

 and winter. According to Mr. Tomlinson, 60 per cent, of the trout taken by the Dover fishermen 

 are salted and disposed of in this manner at prices averaging $6 per barrel. Those that are sent 

 away are generally packed in boxes with ice. In some of the larger villages ice is put up in winter 

 if any can be obtained. At Milford, Mr. J. Lowry has two ice-houses, with a capacity of 1,000 tons 

 each. In 1879 50 tons were sold to fishermen and fish peddlers, but in 1880 no ice was obtained. 



Mr. Van Burkalow says nine-tenths of the trout are sold to farmers and peddlers, mostly in a 

 fresh condition, and one-tenth shipped to Philadelphia. 



Mr. J. A. Marshall, of Lewes, estimates the catch of trout by the fishermen of that place at 

 250,000 pounds for 1880. Of this amount, he says three-fourths are sold fresh to peddlers and 

 farmers, and one-fourth salted by the fishermen, being afterwards sold to residents of the interior 

 towns. 



He also tells us that the men employed on the railroad at Lewes buy a good many fish, which 

 they sell at the towns along the route. The price received for the fish is variously stated to be 

 from 25 to GO cents a bushel for those which are sold in a "lump" to farmers; but for such as are 

 retailed by the fishermen themselves in the villages near the fishing grounds, the price is frequently 

 4 or 5 cents a pound. 



