THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
In the present work I propose to give some account, as far as known, 
of the more important fishes of the Eastern United States north of 
_ Delaware Bay, together with an account of the methods by which they 
are pursued, captured, and utilized, as also of their application, with 
some statistical tables illustrating the results of the fisheries in the 
region referred to. For the better elucidation of the subject, I also 
-propose to embrace a reference to corresponding fisheries in Europe 
and other parts of the world, so far as these throw light upon the 
American species. 
A limitation of the subject to the region north of Delaware Bay is 
made, partly in view of the fact that the fisheries of that region are 
much more important in an economical point of view, and can be better 
monographed at present, and partly because this is the portion of 
Eastern North America which is embraced in the Washington treaty, 
and of which the information referred to is needed for the proper con- 
sideration of the international, political, and economical treatment of 
the subject.* 
, *In confining attention in the present article specially to the subject of the fish- 
eries of the region covered by the treaty of Washington, it is not to be supposed that 
there are no productive fisheries on a large scale further south, the contrary being 
quite the fact. No portion of the globe exceeds the Southern and Gulf coasts of the 
United States in the number and variety of excellent food-fish, their waters teeming 
with them throughout the year and permitting their capture, especially in the 
cooler seasons, to almost any imaginable extent. A few hours’ labor, either with 
the line, the cast-net, the gill-net, or the seine, suffices to supply the fisherman with 
food for days; and the introduction of the wholesale means of: capture (pounds and 
traps not yet attempted) will probably produce no appreciable effect upon the sup- 
ply. 
Among the species which may be mentioned in this connection are the menhaden, 
bluefish, and mullet, all of which yield important fisheries in North Carolina, Vir- 
ginia, and farther south. The menhaden is taken in great numbers and salted in 
barrels, being considered a very desirable article of food. 
The bluefish spends several months on the Southern coast after leaving the North- 
ern and Middle States, and is found of very great size—from 12 to16 pounds. Dur- 
ing the late autumn and early winter vast numbers of these are shipped to the 
Northern markets, where they find a ready demand. [I find a memorandum that on 
the 20th of November, 1872, three thousand bluefish, averaging 12 pounds each, or 
36,000 pounds altogether, were shipped from asingle fishing station in North Carolina. 
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