THE POUND-NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES. 609 



The average stock for marketable fish during the season for this locality is about $4,200 per 

 net, the marine species named in order of value being Spanish mackerel, taylors, trout, sheepshead, 

 porgies, and mixed fish. If the value be neglected, and the number of individuals be considered, 

 the order should be changed so as to read: Trout, taylors, mackerel, mixed fish, porgies, and sheeps- 

 head, with the addition of refuse fish, which are either thrown away or used for fertilizing purposes. 



According to the best-informed fishermen, 100,000 trout, 40,000 blnefish, locally known as 

 "taylors," 30,000 Spanish mackerel, 10,000 mixed fish, 3,000 porgies, and 1,000 sheepshead repre- 

 sent the catch of the average pound for 1879. The money value of the catch is divided among the 

 species as follows: Mackerel, 36 per cent.; taylors, 24 per cent; trout, 21 per cent; sheepshead, 

 6 per cent.; porgies, 5 per cent.; mixed fish, 8 per cent. 



On the west shore of the Chesapeake the pounds are much smaller and the catch is propor- 

 tionally less, while the fishing season is also different. Here the pounds are put out in time for the 

 run of shad, which begins early in March and continues until the last of May. After the shad 

 season is over many of the nets are taken up. Almost none remain down through the summer, 

 though a number are fished in the fall for trout and other species. On the eastern shore the law 

 allows pounds to be fished only between the 25th of .Tune'and the 1st of October, during which time 

 they are lifted regularly every day when the weather will permit. 



12. POUND NET FISHERIES OF ALBEMAELE SOUND. 



In Albeinarle Sound, the southern limit of the pound-net fishery, this branch of the industry 

 is not so important as some others which are prosecuted there. Col. Marshall McDonald, who 

 visited this region in behalf of the census, gathered information on pound fisheries, and has given 

 me a summary of his observations. 



It appears that pound-nets were introduced here in 1870 by a German, Mr. Hettrick, who 

 still controls some of the more important stations. The nets employed are similar to the Rhode 

 Island traps, but are so constructed as to prevent the escape of the fish. They are located almost 

 without exception at the head of the sound, on the north side. 



The fishing season lasts from the middle of March to June. The principal fish taken are white 

 perch, rockfish, herring, and alewives. Considerable numbers of shad are also taken. 



The business arrangements of the fishermen are somewhat different from those of other 

 regions. Usually several nets are owned by a single man, who furnishes the netting and buys the 

 fish. The products are shipped to commission agents in the principal cities to which they are 

 sent. 



At least half the products supply the local demand, the remainder being sent to Norfolk, Rich- 

 mond, and Baltimore, from which points, of course, they are again distributed. The fish are 

 taken from the nets to Edenton in six or seven small schooners and sloops of 11 to 15 tons burden; 

 thence they are shipped to the centers, fresh, in ice, in boxes of about 300 pounds each. The majority 

 of the herring, however, are smoked or " struck," and sold to the farmers in the immediate vicinity 

 of the fisheries. It is only in spring that the fishermen find it profitable to scud their herring fresh 

 to the larger markets, Philadelphia and Baltimore. In 1880 about 104 nets were in use, worth at 

 an average $400. 



A small number of brush weirs are also in use in the sound, but the fishery is not important 



In 1880 pound-nets were introduced into the Ogeechee Eiver. Their use is at present experi 

 mental. Two or three nets are also in use in the Neuse Eiver. 

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