520 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



IX.— LOBSTERS AND OTHER CRUSTACEANS. 



Imports of canned lobsters. — Tlie foreign trade in lobsters consists 

 entirely of imports, no domestic lobsters being exported from this 

 country. The imports comprise canned and fresh lobsters, nearly all 

 of which come from the British North American Provinces. 



Trior to 1S70 almost the entire product of canned lobsters was pre- 

 pared in the United States, but the growing scarcity and increased 

 price of these Crustacea on the Maine coast resulted during 1870 in 

 the establishment of numerous canneries in the British Provinces by 

 New England capitalists. The number of these canneries has greatly 

 increased, and they now furnish nearly the whole supply of this prod- 

 uct, the present yield of canned lobsters in the Dominion of Canada 

 being equivalent to about 13,000,000 one-pound cans, with a valuation 

 of $1,800,000. The annual product in the United States is only about 

 1,250,000 one-pound cans, worth $180,000. As the consumption is about 

 5,250,000 cans each year, the importation of 4,000,000 cans is necessary 

 to supply the markets. 



Table 61 shows the quantities and values of canned lobsters imported 

 and the quantities and values imported for consumption during a series 

 often years ending June 30, 1894, and the average value per pound of 

 those entered for consumption, the difference between the imports and 

 the imports for consumption representing exports of foreign canned 

 lobsters from this country: 



61. 



Table of the imports, imports for consumption, and average value per pound of canned 

 lobsters during a series of years. 



By far the greater portion of canned lobsters imported into the United 

 States are received from Nova Scotia. Of the 3,898,442 pounds imported 

 during the year 1894, 3,862,162 came from Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wick, 35,560 from Quebec and Ontario, and 720 and 140 pounds from 

 Newfoundland and Germany, respectively. Sometimes the Newfound- 

 land receipts are quite large; in 1891, for instance, their value was 

 $87,386. 



Table 62 shows the quantities and values of lobsters received from 

 each foreign country during the ten years ending in 1894: 



