410 



FISHKS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



The most abundant of the migratory food fishes of the state are the ale- 

 wives, or river herrings. The extent to which these entered into the fisheries 

 of the counties in 1904 is shown in the following detailed table in which the 

 number, weight, and value of the fish sold fresh and salted are separately given: 

 Yield of Alewives in North Carolina, 1904. 



COUNTIES. 



Number. Pounds. Value 



Beaufort ! 



Bertie | 



Camden 



Carteret 



Chowan 



Craven 



Currituck 



Dare 



Duplin 



Gates 



Greene 



Hertford 



Hyde 



Lenoir 



Martin 



New Hanover 



Pamlico 



Pasquotank 



Pender 



Perquimans 



Pitt 



Sampson 



Tyrrell ,. . . 



Washington 



Total 



436,660 



72,500 



26,000 



18,000 



3,991,700 



182,614 



91,000, 



815,000 



900 



34,600 



3,950' 



146,000! 



16,500' 



1,700 



103,000 



4,780 



72,500 



202,200 



4,000 



743,000 



11,240 



17,620 



382,000 



428,000 



7,839,464 



218,330 



36,250 



13,000 



9,000 



1,995,850 



91,307 



45,500 



407,500 



450 



17,300 



1,975 



73,000 



8,250 



850 



51,500 



2,390 



36,250 



101,100 



2,000 



371,500 



5,620 



8,810 



141,000 



231,000 



3,869,732 



$3,579 



590 



190 



120 



13,156 



1,605 



1,053 



12,619 



14 



346 



40 



1,438 



165 



17 



1,030 



52 



590 



1,702 



50 



3,715 



112 



174 



1,988 



1,861 



454,000j 151,334; 2,094 

 3,695,000 1,231,667 13,667 



46,206 



19,866,800 



6,622,268 



78,202 



The blue-fish is taken in largest quantities in Dare and Carteret counties. 

 Its economic value in the latter county and the peculiar methods of capture 

 there adopted are thus described by Dr. Coker: 



The blue-fish is one of the most important fish of these waters. Its value varies accord- 

 ing to size. Large and medium sell best, and as a rule are sent to tlie northern markets, while 

 the small snappers bring little more than lialf the price of the other, per pound, and are used 

 chiefly in the state trade. 



Formerly quite abundant, blue-fish had become quite scarce, until within the past few 

 years, when they again became plentiful. In 1903 they were taken in unprecedented quanti- 

 ties. Out of several hundred thousand pounds of fish shipped from these points during October 

 12 to 17, inclusive (one dealer shipped 197,000 pounds and is considered to have handled half 

 the product for that week), more than three-fourths were blue-fish. The shipment of fish dur- 

 ing that week was the greatest ever made from these points. 



Blue-fish are taken by "drifting" for them in the inlet, by "set nets" on the outside, and, 

 in less degree, by "footing them up" with drag nets and in purse seines. The "drifting" is 



