COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 21 



THE LOBSTER INDUSTRY. 



In common with all other branches of the fisheries, the statistics 

 furnished for the lobster industry are wholly unsatisfactory. The 

 only item which can be relied upon is the number of men engaged in 

 fishing. The law which took effect January 1st, 1910, compelling 

 all lobster men to become licensed, has rendered this data accurate. 

 The remainder of the data, while admittedly inaccurate, is sub- 

 mitted because it is the most correct that your Commission could 

 secure. But so untrustworthy is it that in one instance, in obtaining 

 the number of pounds of lobsters caught in a certain territory, the 

 information from two different sources (both supposedly reliable) 

 varied thirty-five per cent. Your Commission regrets that such is 

 the case, although they endeavor to publish only such information 

 as they can verify. 



But with all due allowances for errors it is certain that the lobster 

 catch for 1910 was far below that of 1909. A number of natural 

 causes were partly responsible for this. The stormy spring of 1910 

 prevented any extended catch of lobsters till near the first of June. 

 A stormy fall shortened the season at the other end, and during the 

 time that the weather permitted fishing, the scarcity of suitable bait 

 very largely decreased the catch. Indeed to such an extent was the 

 supply of bait inadequate that many fishermen took up their pots 

 about two months earlier than usual. It is probable, however, that 

 allowing for bad weather and scarcity of bait, this season's catch 

 would still have been low. Lobstermen fortunate enough to have a 

 good supply of bait in the best part of the season report the catches 

 light. This is in common with the conditions this past year of all 

 other fisheries. Furthermore, the same causes are at work depleting 

 our fisheries as in other lobster producing areas, namely: excessive 

 and indiscriminate fishing, inadequate lobster laws, and in our State 

 the continual disturbing of a portion of the bottom and its use by 

 other industries (oyster dredging and beam trawling). It would 

 seem, upon referring to Table III, that there has been a steady in- 

 crease in the abundance of lobsters in Rhode Island up to the year 



