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FISHEKIES OF THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES. 



WHOLESALE TRADE. 



Number of Persons Employed and the Capital Invested in the Wholesale 

 Fishery Trade of Philadelphia and Chester in 1904. 



FISHERIES OF DELAWARE. 



GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE STATISTICS. 



The returns for the fishery industries of Delaware for 1904 show 

 little change in the totals from those of previous years. Compared 

 with 1901 the number of persons engaged decreased from 1,998 to 

 1,899; the value of vessels, boats, apparatus of capture, shore prop- 

 erty, etc., increased from $657,197 to $669,995, and the catch 

 decreased from 5,835,186 pounds to 5,608,289 pounds, but its value 

 increased from $203,372 to $259,590. 



The most important fishery product of Delaware is the oyster, 

 the yield of which in 1904 amounted to 241,575 bushels, worth 

 $93,684, or 36 per cent of the value of the total products. Of this 

 yield, 105,000 bushels were market oysters from public reefs, 10,400 

 bushels were market oysters from private areas, and the remaining 

 126,175 bushels were seed oysters from the public reefs. In addition, 

 large quantities of market oysters were taken from private areas 

 owned by residents of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, to which states 

 they have been credited. In 1901 the yield of oj^sters credited to 

 Delaware was only 173,190 bushels, for which the fishermen received 

 $62,608. 



Next in rank to the oyster industry comes the shad fishery, with a 

 yield in 1904 of 237,755 fish, worth $67,928, or 26 per cent of the total 

 for the state. The yield in 1901 was 341,988 shad, for which the 

 fishermen received $56,605, an average of 17 cents per fish, while the 

 average in the year covered by these returns was 28 cents. Owing 

 to this increase in price of the fish, the shad fishery in 1904 was very 

 profitable. 



The catch of minor species of fish in this state in 1904 compares 

 favorably with that in 1901. The yield of eels increased from 230, 650^ 

 pounds to 268,255 pounds; German carp from 198,040 pounds to 

 216,560 pounds; squeteague from 722,435 pounds to 773,300 pounds, 

 and sturgeon, including caviar, from 86,199 pounds to 91,295 pounds. 

 The principal decreases in the same period have been in alewives, 

 from 597,374 pounds to 344,860 pounds; white perch, from 242,360 



