ABOUT LOBSTERS 75 



from Gloucester to some out-of-the-way harbor— with little 

 chance of a return cargo. 



Any manufactured lobster bait will be smelly. But it 

 would in no way be as offensive as are barrels of fish scrap 

 stored in the sun on a lobster wharf, waiting to be used. 

 Lobstermen are limited to the sites they can use for a wharf 

 due to the odor, and many convenient locations are closed 

 to them— locations which could be used if a manufactured 

 bait stored in sealed containers could be used. Similarly, 

 fish wharves which now are repugnant to summer visitors, 

 boating parties, etc., would become attractive if a manu- 

 factured bait were available instead of fish scrap. Any man 

 who sails can name a dozen harbors which are avoided be- 

 cause they stink too much. 



Fish scrap is not only smelly and costly, but the bones 

 of the fish can cause painful infections. When a lobsterman 

 jams a handful of brim (scrap from filleted fish) on a bait 

 hook, the fish bones can pierce his hand.' Many fishermen 

 have to take several days off during a season to recover from 

 the infections. 



Lobstermen are accustomed to think that the cost of 

 their bait is the price they pay per bushel. This is correct if 

 the buyer is large enough to pay for a truckload delivered at 

 his wharf (as with the cooperatives), but the small buyer 

 must add the cost of his time in going and coming to the 

 seller's plant. In some ports, it has been customary for sev- 

 eral lobstermen to join together and each take a turn in 

 fetching the bait, often a full day's work. This should be 

 added to the cost, but usually it is not. 



There are about eight thousand lobstermen in New 

 England. They average perhaps seventy-five pots per man. 

 Pots are usually baited daily with three pounds of fish 

 scraps, and the pots are fished eight months in the year. 

 This adds up to over a million pounds of bait used daily. 

 It is a big industry. 



LobLure 



The making of a synthetic lobster bait consists of find- 



