HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 1 1 7 



in Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds, where, according to Mr. Hance Law 

 son, of Crisfield, Md., there are employed 5 vessels averaging about 15 

 tons each and 5 oared barges. Small numbers are taken in gill and 

 trap nets at other points. 



Fislieries of Virginia and Xorth Carolina. 



IGG. In the inlets of North Carolina no menhaden are taken in quan- 

 tity. 



The Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company, of New Haven, inaugurated men- 

 haden fishing in North Carolina and Virginia in 1860. Their prospect- 

 ing party passed the winter in Eoanoke Sound and established weirs 

 lor the capture of menhaden, which were there very abundant. They 

 were, however, driven away by the natives, whose jealousy of strange 

 fishermen led them to tear up their weirs. They then located themselves 

 near Cape Charles. Four companies established factories here — one 

 from Maine, one from Long Island, and two from New London. They 

 found the fishery very good, although the fish produced little oil, and 

 were only adapted for the manufacture of fertilizers. The laws of Vir- 

 ginia do not encourage the inauguration of such enterprises by stran- 

 gers, and the following year it was thought uuadvisable to continue the 

 business. 



Since 1872 several stock companies have been organized, under Vir- 

 ginia laws, for the purpose of carrying on the menhaden fisheries in the 

 Chesapeake, and their success is well assured. Although the oil is not 

 produced in great quantities, there is sufficient to pay the cost of man- 

 ufacture, thus leaving a clear profit in the scraps. 



Fisheries in the South. 



1G7. At Cape Hatteras and in the five adjacent townships there are, 

 according to Mr. Simpson, 200 boats and about 500 men. None of these, 

 however, make a special eftbrt to capture the menhaden. 



In the rivers near Beaufort, N. C, they are taken in small quantities 

 in gill-nets worked from open boats and canoes. 



South of Beaufort, N. C, the menhaden has no statistical importance. 

 They are sometimes caught incidentally in the shad and mullet nets of 

 the Saint John's River, Florida, but, as in the Potomac, they are con- 

 sidered by the fishermen to be useless annoyances. 



30.— Apparatus of capture. 



The purse-seine. 



IGS. The purse-seine is doubtless more effective than any other fish- 

 ing apparatus ever devised. By its use a school of almost any size may 

 be secured without the loss of a single fish. The enormous demands of 

 the oil factories can be met only by fisheries conducted on the grandest 

 scale, and the purse-seine is used by the factory fleets to the exclusion 



