28 COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



Table VII. 



Total Number of Traps Set Each Year Since 1898. 



1898 119 1906 249 



1899 121 1907 271 



1900 135 1908 271 



1901 151 1909 277 



1902 161 1910 283 



1903 195 1911 277 



1904 220 1912 261 



1905 240 1913 267 



1914 252 



Deep Water Fishing off Newport in 1914. 



The deep water fishing off Newport in 1914 was somewhat above 

 the average. Of special prominence may be mentioned the scup 

 fishing, whose annual yields do not seem to be effected by the quantity 

 of fish taken each year, and also worthy of special mention was the 

 large number of small mackerel. As early as April 2nd deep water 

 traps were put in near Point Judith, but owing to the rough weather 

 it was not until April 22nd that the first off-shore trap was set near 

 Newport. The usual rough weather was experienced in the early 

 part of the season, but nothing of any consequence. The last of 

 the big scup traps were taken up July 25th. 



Scup (Stenotomus chrysops). — The first scup to arrive in New 

 York City in 1914 came from Ocean City, Maryland, on April 

 24th. The first caught in Rhode Island waters were taken in traps 

 off Point Judith on April 28th, and consisted of a single specimen. 

 This was fully two weeks later than the first catch in 1913, and as the 

 traps had been set over three weeks earlier (April 2nd) it may be 

 considered as about the first scup to arrive in this vicinity. April 

 30, a single scup was caught near Newport. The catch of scup from 

 this time on increased slowly until May 6, when a catch of 500 pounds 

 was made off Point Judith, and the following day the boats fishing off 

 Newport brought in two or three barrels each. By May 10 -more than 

 100 barrels a day were being brought into Newport. The quantities 



