REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 125 



The alewife fishery. — Among the river fishes of the New England 

 States the alewives rank next to the smelt in importance, although in 

 all the New England States except Maine and New Hampshire the 

 alewife catch exceeds in value that of the smelt. The fishery is most 

 extensive in Massachusetts, where nearly half the quantity and more 

 than half the value of the yield are obtained. In Maine and Khode 

 Island the fishery is of similar extent, the former State having a some- 

 what larger catch and the latter a greater value. 



Most of the alewife fishing is done in the rivers or the waters adjoin- 

 ing the river mouths. In Maine the principal alewife grounds are the 

 Machias, Penobscot, Pamariscotta, Kennebec, and Sheepscot rivers. 

 In New Hampshire fishing is done in the Piscataqua Eiver. The fish- 

 ery in Massachusetts is most extensive in Cape Cod Pay, on Marthas 

 Vineyard, and in the Pass, Essex, Powley, Aganan, Taunton, Matta- 

 poisett, and Acushnet rivers. The catch in Phode Island is made in 

 Narragansett Pay, and in Connecticut the Connecticut River is the 

 only important fishing-ground. 



In 1892 the number of persons in New England engaging in the cap- 

 ture of alewives was 571. Of these, 318 were in Massachusetts and 179 

 in Maine. The apparatus employed consisted of 112 seines, 203 gill 

 nets, 00 pound nets and weirs, and 151 dip nets. These, with the 258 

 boats used, had a value of $17,086. The total catch of alewives 

 amounted to 7,847,928 pounds, with a value of $100,3G4, of which 

 1,313,977 pounds, valued at $19,82G, were incidentally taken in appa- 

 ratus set primarily for other fish — salmon weirs in Maine and pound nets 

 employed in general shore fishing in Massachusetts, Phode Island, and 

 Connecticut. The output in Massachusetts was over 3,G50,000 pounds, 

 for which the fishermen received $58,510. The principal part of the 

 catch in Maine and New Hampshire was taken in weirs, in Massachusetts 

 and Phode Island seines took the largest quantities, while in Connect- 

 icut the most prominent apparatus was the gill net, which also took 

 considerable quantities in Maine. More than one-third the aggregate 

 yield was caught with seines, and almost as much with pound nets and 

 weirs. 



The herring fishery. — The taking of the sea herring is one of the most 

 important fisheries of New England, because of its actual value and 

 of the extensive industries dependent on it. The value of the herring 

 fishery is exceeded only by that of such prominent fisheries as the 

 whale, cod, mackerel, haddock, halibut, oyster, clam, and lobster; and, 

 if the closely related business of canning and smoking herring is 

 considered, the herring becomes more important than any other New 

 England fishery product except cod. 



The herring is taken chiefly in Maine and Massachusetts, although 

 its range embraces the entire New England coast. By far the largest 

 fishery is in Maine, where there are more herring fishermen, more 

 capital invested in the fishery, and more fish taken than in all the other 

 States combined. In Massachusetts, however, the fishery is important. 



