A HALF-CENTURY OF GROWTH 169 



$3,915,786, made up of $1,973,565 worth of dried fish and 

 $1,942,221 worth of pickled fish. The value of fish used 

 for domestic consumption, according to this estimate, was 

 $3,201,543, made up of $1,434,431 worth of dried fish and 

 $1,767,112 worth of pickled fish. The tonnage engaged in 

 the codfishery and the amount of exports for 1840 were 

 each nine per cent less than the average for this period of 

 years; so that it is not an unsafe estimate to place the 

 annual value of the fisheries between 1819 and 1851 near 

 $4,000,000, with the home consumption considerably above 

 $3,000,000 worth of fish. 



The cod retained the distinction of being the principal 

 food fish of the American seas down to the period of the 

 Civil War. While there were years of depression in the 

 codfishery from 1818 to 1866, the period as a whole was 

 one of general prosperity and substantial gain in all phases 

 of the industry. A survey of the Massachusetts towns en- 

 gaged in the codfishery reveals, at first glance, a marked 

 depression in this fishery; but where the tonnage of the 

 State falls off in the codfishery it can generally be found 

 to crop out again in some other new form of deep-sea enter- 

 prise, particularly in the mackerel fishery. For example, in 

 1851 the codfishery of Maine was above the 45,000 tonnage 

 mark, more than 5,000 tons ahead of the Massachusetts 

 codfishery tonnage. But, on the other hand, Massachusetts 

 had about 40,000 tons employed in the mackerel fishery, the 

 tonnage for the two industries being almost alike for that 

 year, while the mackerel tonnage of Maine was below 10,000 

 tons. 



The amount of tonnage employed in the codfishery of 

 New England during the period of forty-eight years from 

 1818 to 1866 reached an annual average double the tonnage 

 employed during the first twenty-nine years of our Federal 

 existence. The average tonnage for the period, and for 

 different terms of years, are shown in the following table : 



