140 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



clams. They bring $1.75 per barrel, while the natural clams sell for $1.50 per barrel. 

 This is the price received by the catchers. One acre of these clams is considered to 

 be worth $1,000 if well seeded and favorably located so as not to be in danger of 

 being submerged with sand. This valuation would be too high for an average, since 

 all the acres are not equally well seeded and located. The clammers are generally 

 impressed that the industry can be extensively and profitably developed, and their 

 only fear is that they will not be able to secure lots permanently. The greater part 

 of the land available for this purpose is covered by the deeds of people owning 

 farms along the river and the consent of the land-owners has to be obtained before 

 lots can be taken up. It seems probable, however, that the business will continueto 

 progress unless checked by complications that may arise relative to the occupancy of 

 the grounds. 



The scallop fishery. — The taking of scallops is recognized as a com- 

 mercial fishery only in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. In 

 the first-named State, where the fishery is of least importance, the 

 scallop taken differs from that obtained in the other States and is 

 known as the giant scallop or smooth scallop (Pecicn magellanicus). 

 It attains a very large size, but is found only in circumscribed limits 

 and is not especially abundant in the accessible localities. The com- 

 mon scallop (Pecten irradians) ranges from southern Massachusetts to 

 Connecticut, and is very abundant in parts of Massachusetts and 

 Rhode Island. 



The principal grounds resorted to by the Maine scallop fishermen in 

 1892 were the eastern side of Mount Desert Island, the region between 

 Deer Isle and Castine, and the Sheepscot River. In Massachusetts 

 the scallop-grounds are in Nantucket Sound and Buzzards Ray. Scal- 

 lops are generally distributed in the waters of Rhode Island, the 

 largest catch, however, being obtained in Greenwich Bay, a tributary 

 of Narragansett Bay, in Kent County. 



In 1802 the scallop fishery was engaged in by 55 vessel fishermen, 

 838 boat fishermen, and 80 shoresmen, 073 persons in all. Of the fish- 

 ermen, 142 were in Maine, 500 in Massachusetts, and 242 in Rhode 

 Island. The aggregate investment in the industry was $102,307, of 

 which $11,535 represented the value of 24 vessels, $81,070 the value 

 of 626 boats, and $8,802 the value of the apparatus used. Of the 

 aggregate sum $63,502 was invested in Massachusetts. The quan- 

 tity of scallops taken for market in Maine was 10,374 bushels, having a 

 value of $0,455; in Massachusetts, 84,154 bushels, valued at $75,637, 

 and in Rhode Island, 52,600 bushels, valued at $38,008. In Connec- 

 ticut, where there is no regular scallop fishery, 440 bushels of scallops, 

 worth $330, were taken by clam fishermen. 



The New England scallop output in 1802 was 231 per cent larger 

 and the value of the catch was 005 per cent greater than in 1880. The 

 very interesting and unusual feature shown by the statistics of a 

 greatly augmented yield, attended by an even greater increase in the 

 selling price, is to be accounted for by the fact that the mollusks have 

 steadily risen in popular favor as a food product. In 1880 the yield 

 of scallops in Massachusetts was only 7,568 bushels, having a value of 

 $3,514, and in Rhode Island was 35,600 bushels, valued at $8,000. No 



