REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 7 



Leaving out of account the traps at Block Island, numbering, this 

 year, eight, the following table gives a summary of the numbers in 

 the consecutive years from 1S98 to 1909, inclusive: 



Year. No. of traps. Year. No. of traps. 



1898 119 1904 214 



1899 121 1905 234 



1900 135 1906 243 



1901 151 1907 265 



1902 161 1908 271 



1903 195 1909 269 



It is to be noted that the growth in numbers has been constant 

 and fairly even up to 1908; the yearly increase being 2, 14, 16, 10, 

 34, 19, 20, 9, 22, and 6. During the last season the number has 

 diminished by two. As two additional traps were set at Block Island, 

 the total for the State is the same as for 1908. The increase has been 

 general in the various portions of the State, though in some quarters 

 it has been greater than in others. This is indicated in the following 

 table: 



Prov. East West Mt. Hope Sakonnet East Off 



Year. River. Greenwich. Passage. Bay. River. Passage. Shore. 



1898 4 6 26 9 34 15 25 



1908 7 38 32 12 37 22 73 



1909 7 31 32 12 88 26 73 



Unfortunately there are no accurate statistics showing the actual 

 amount of the yearly catch of fish in the traps, and their value. Some 

 general idea of the importance of the fishery, however, may be in- 

 ferred from the fact that the shipment from Newport alone by regular 

 transportation lines was, for 1909, 46,031 barrels of fish, exclusive 

 of lobsters and other shell-fish and large fish like sturgeon, horse- 

 mackerel, swordfish, etc. 



The statistics collected by Wm. T. Luth, chief deputy under the 

 lobster law, relating to the lobster fishery during four years were 

 summarized in the general report of the Commission last year, pages 



