132 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



liaden Association Las never lost a man in its service, and not one of 

 the steamers has ever burst a boiler. This is the more important since 

 the cod and mackerel fisheries have been and are grievously oppressed, 

 and greatly reduced by the tariff regulation that admits English fish 

 free to our markets. The Englishman can build his craft at less cost 

 than the American, can fit and equip her cheaper, and can therefore 

 afford to sell his fish at a lower figure than the home fisherman; and at 

 the same time he pays none of our taxes while enjoying the benefit of 

 our market. The menhaden fishery has afforded no little relief in this 

 condition of things to the unemployed fishing population on our coast 

 and elsewhere." 



182. Mr. Maddocks gives a very interesting picture of the influence of 

 the menhaden fishery upon the population of the neighboring shores. 



In the villages of Boothbay, Bristol, Bremen, and East Boothbay, the 

 centers of the menhaden fishery on the Maine coast, the number of 

 dwellings has doubled in the past feW years, and all the outward signs 

 of thrift, of enlarged comfort and abundance manifest themselves. The 

 companies engaged in the menhoden business pay in the aggregate a 

 handsome per cent, of the annual taxes of the towns in which they are lo- 

 cated. The oil companies of Bremen pay over one-fourth of the total tax 

 of the municipality. The oil-factories of Boothbay have, since they were 

 built, paid an amount of tax equal to two-thirds of the war debt of the 

 town. The Bristol factories pay one-eighth of the town tax. The indi- 

 rect contributions of the business to the public treasury, by promoting the 

 building of houses, vessels, &c., have been very considerable. All the 

 money made has been spent on the spot, where it is open to taxation. 



"About $G0,000 worth of cotton twine is used yearly in the menhaden 

 fishery of Maine for the manufacture and repair of seines. Quite a 

 number of hands, men, boys, and girls, are employed in this work. The 

 seines are of course made by machinery. Ten thousand tons of coal are 

 consumed for various purposes, and 40,000 bushels of salt." 



A correspondent of the "American Agriculturist" states in that pa- 

 per* that the proceeds of the menhaden fishery and industry between 

 New London and Stonington in 1872 amounted to $113,000, which was 

 distributed along the coast of 12 miles on the north side of Fisher's 

 Island sound. The business gave employment to over 200 men at the 

 factories, and indirectly to as many more, besides the business of freight- 

 ing the products. 



34. — Protective legislation. 

 Laws of Maine. 



183. The legislative acts relating to the menhaden fishery in Maine 

 are summed up as follows : 



Sec. I, chap. 313, Public Laws, 1865, provides as follows : 



"i^o person shall set or use any seine within three miles of the shore 



* American Agriculturist, 1873, vol. XXXII, i>. 139. 



