614 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



charge of the attCTidants uutil the steamer came. No telegraph com- 

 munication coukl be had nearer than Franklin. 



As already remarked, the seine fisheries of this region are on the most 

 extensive scale of any locality in the country; although a single seine on 

 the Potomac exceeds any one on the Albemarle Sound in dimensions, 

 still the average length of seines in the Albemarle Sound is greater and 

 there are more of them. The system of fishing is a very good one, most 

 of the seine proprietors finding it possible to employ the same gang of 

 hands each succeeding year. This, of course, afiords them the advantage 

 of a trained and experienced force, which is a matter of much conse- 

 quence. 



At the Scotch Hall fishery on the Capehart plantation, where steam- 

 engines are used, a system of signals is employed with the steam-whistle, 

 through which the men are called to any point necessary, and the posi- 

 tion of the seine can be known by the proprietor, while in his ofiQce or 

 at his home, by the special signals given at different intervals. 



Where the outlay is large and the labor bill great, as it is at these 

 steam-fisheries, it is found essential to have the material in the outfit of 

 superior quality, so that there may be little liability of delay through 

 breakage or accident. A peculiar line is used at these fisheries, imported 

 from Russia, made expressly for the Eussian navy, and said to be used 

 only in two or three industries in the United States, one the Albe- 

 marle Sound fisheries and another in oil-well drilling. 



Some of these fisheries have proved very profitable to their owners. 

 One is referred to, the sum of the profits from which for nine years was 

 $.55,000. A table showing the catch at Scotch Hall fishery for a series 

 of years is appended. 



Large shoals of rock-fish or striped bass visit the shores later in the 

 year. A remarkable haul made on one of Dr. Capehart's shores in 

 1876 yielded 35,000 fish. Many of these weighed 80 and 90 pounds, and 

 305 of them had a total weight of 23,785 pounds, an average of 65 

 ])Ounds. This year the run of sliad into the sound was very light; only 

 one haul of consequence was heard of, this Ijeing when 998 were taken 

 at Avoca Beach on the 17th of April. 



It may not be generally known that the waters of Albemarle Sound 

 are entirely fresh from Roanoke Island to the head of the sound, the 

 inlets from the sea being so small that very little salt water is intro- 

 duced; the large rivers emptying into it also prevent the tides from 

 having much effect upon the water ; Pamhco Sound has a larger area of 

 salt water. 



Early in April it was announced that large hauls of herring were 

 being made in Pamlico Sound ; about the middle of April large catches 

 were made at the lower fisheries in Albemarle Sound, and from that 

 on till the 1st of May the nets were crowded with herring. The run 

 was unprecedented, the older fishermen asserting that nothing equal to 

 it had ever occurred; one of the nets of Mr. Peter Warren took at one 



