STATISTICS OF THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 395 



The number of boats used in the fishing' industry, exclusive of those which forma 

 part of the outfit of the vessels, is 66,464, valued at $4,382,520. More than half the 

 boats are employed in the Middle Atlantic States. The boat fisheries are especially 

 extensive in Maryland, where there are 9,800 boats. Other important States in this 

 respect are Virginia with 9,250 boats, New York with 7,515, Maine with 6,015, and 

 New Jersey with 5,590. 



Foremost in point of value among the forms of apparatus used in the capture of 

 fish and other products stands the class of appliances of which the pound net is the 

 type, and which includes the pound net, the trap net, and the weir. The number of 

 these employed in the United States is 8,726, with a value of $2,189,526. This kind 

 of apparatus is most numerous in the Great Lakes, where 3,750 nets, mostly the typi- 

 cal pounds, were set in the year covered by the figures, 1890. The next important 

 region is the Middle Atlantic, to which 2,445 such nets are credited. New England 

 has over 1,100 such traps, the South Atlantic section 960, the Pacific Coast 432, while 

 in the Gulf States this form of net is not used. The individual States in which the 

 fishery with pounds, traps, and weirs is especially extensive are Michigan, Ohio, 

 Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Maine, New York, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, 

 Oregon, and Washington. 



The most extensively used apparatus is the gill net, which in value closely 

 approximates to the pound net. The number shown in the tables is 244,942, with a 

 value of $1,728,266. As the nets of this class are of such a varying length, even in 

 the same fisheries and the same localities, a statement of the length of gill-netting 

 employed will convey a better idea of the enormous extent of this fishery than a mere 

 enumeration of the number of separate pieces. A close approximation, based on 

 actual figures in the great majority of cases, gives the aggregate length of the gill 

 nets as 51,446,000 feet, or 9,743 miles. Gill nets are used in greater or less numbers in 

 every geographical section, but are most numerous and represent the largest investment 

 in the Great Lakes, where over 100,000 nets, worth $498,096, are reported. Next in rank 

 in the number of gill nets is the South Atlantic region, which is credited with over 

 93,000 nets, although their value, only $204,227, indicates their relatively small size- 

 The Middle Atlantic States have about 32,000 nets, valued at $419,858. In the. New 

 Eugland fisheries 12,000 such nets, worth $112,201, are employed. The number of 

 these nets on the Pacific coast, 5.023, is relatively small, but their value, $467,021, 

 shows them to be of larger average size than in any other region. The gill net is 

 rare in the Gulf region, less than 900 being there operated. The States in which the 

 gill net is especially conspicuous are North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 

 Wisconsin, New York, and Maryland, each of which has over 10,000; while, on account 

 of the value of the catch, this form of apparatus is also important in Maine, Massa- 

 chusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. 



Seines rank next to gill nets in value. The 5,165 such appliances shown iu the 

 table had a value of $761,286. The seines are most numerous and important iu the 

 Middle Atlantic States; 1,789 are there employed, having a value of $276,691. In the 

 South Atlantic States this apparatus is nearly as numerous as in the region first 

 named, but the average value of the nets is less; 1,503 seines credited to that section 

 were worth $111,819. The New England States are credited with 640 seines, valued 

 at $190,405. On the west coast 461 seines, having a value of $108,885, are in use. 

 The seines in the Gulf region are nearly as numerous as in New England, but the 



