FISHEEIES OF THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. 



305 



Table shoxmiy the persons and capital in the wholesale fishery trade of Boston in 1902. 



Table showing the persons and capital in the wholesale fishery trade of Gloucester in 1902. 



FISHERIES OF RHODE ISLAND. 



The fisheries of Rhode Island in 1902 employed 2,117 persons, 

 $1,014,280 worth of vessels, boats, apparatus of capture, shore prop- 

 erty, etc., and yielded products to the value of $1,155,701. 



These returns show an advance over those for 1898, when the num- 

 ber of persons employed was 1,687, the investment $957,142, and the 

 value of the products amounted to $955,058. 



The increase in the value of the yield has been due mainly to an 

 enhanced value of the products per pound. The principal increase has 

 oofcurred in scup, which in 1898 amounted to 6,390,225 pounds, worth 

 $75,596, and in 1902 was 6,833,290 pounds, worth $160,854, an average 

 of 1.18 cents per pound in the former year and of 2.35 in the latter. 

 The yield of squeteague was nearly the same as in 1898, but the value 

 per pound has increased from 2.04 to 2.40 cents. 



The value of the mackerel catch has more than doubled, increasing 

 from $15,000 to $32,950. The increase in the weight of the catch has 

 been less, amounting to 359,900 pounds in 1898 and 615,600 pounds in 

 1902. Other species which have increased largely in yield are butter- 

 fish, from 207,000 pounds to 362,910 pounds; haddock, from 366,525 

 pounds to 506,195 pounds, and sword-fish from 55,875 pounds to 

 126,900 pounds. 



The yield of market oysters since 1898 has increased from 441,728 

 bushels to 516,479 bushels, and of seed oysters from 15,650 bushels to 

 91,550 bushels. In the same period the product of clams increased 

 from 15,015 bushels to 26,490 bushels, and scallops from 19,231 to 



F. C. 1904—20 



