42 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
For years the lobster fishery as a whole has presented the anomaly 
of a yearly declining output and a yearly increasing income to the 
fishermen. Going back 24 years, to 1889, when the Bureau gathered 
complete statistics of the fishery, it appears that the catch in 1913 
showed a decrease of 18,504,556 pounds, or 60 per cent, while the re- 
ceipts of the fishermen increased $1,533,525, or 178 per cent. What 
this has meant to the consumer is readily appreciated by everyone 
who has had occasion to buy lobsters either regularly or occasionally. 
The variations in the average price per pound received by the fish- 
ermen for a series of years beginning with 1880 are shown in the 
following table, which explains in part why fishermen as a class have 
been much less solicitous regarding the welfare of the lobster than ~ 
have other persons. For instance, the lobster fishermen of Maine in 
1913 received eleven times as much per pound for their catch as they 
did in 1880 and nearly two and one-half times as much as in 1900. 
AVERAGE PRICE OF LOBSTERS PER PoUND FOR MAINE, MASSACHUSETTS, AND THE 
ENTIRE ATLANTIC COAST IN VARIOUS YEARS FROM 1880 To 1913. 
, F Massa- | Atlantic 
Year. Maine. | chusetts.| coast. 
TSSO is 6 Sah soe so alee ce AOE Oe Se ee ee iota aerate See eo id $0. 018 $0. 036 $0. 024 
BEY Cee eee eng gee tee Rey Se ie Sian ice a te oS . 022 . 044 2 
112. ene a eprint epee, 2 Ne aa ie nen ey S ee Se eee ee et ee A oA . 023 6 029 
PSR Rees Soe ais wystmi ates Sc ae eee areal Te ae Yaa aes a7 Ian Ieee 022 044 027 
OU QDR ne Ns eh tae he A Me ne apes A ie ye oC as gn ee . 031 044 
1 Ros A teeter eae ER Ha NR PTE Maries oS A hy NRA Rae . 066 075 8 
1 50 7 a ne Ran Pe a Sg ap Pa Se eT ey De TI Ere ee tN gue elk 083 
too cE IE ta Ra Ua ie an maine Mn etn ye iar tae ees OR en es BOM Mole Se 088 087 087 
ROQO Sao Bx ie ha Soe athe esate crate Rater ee SIs a eyerera Thc an Siete ete c eek Bane re 086 5 O88 
1? en eet ee fg fe eee eee et ae Rt Seo ee Ye aN ee ee Ne eee ee 087 103 . 089 
BEES SEARO aR BOT aa OEE SAR Aan Sate BoE GSA Err macorno nara Gace toadlboncoonscos ~ 122 
NGOS s e¥5 ooo OSs I eT hae ee ee eae eee 109 137 113 
1 RCC SIN EE ee ae A ak a eae ee te Mee ee eS ea ee 127 125 126 
1!) Is eames in PEE Soe, om RA Ric I oe UNS Oe Sie haga Cine ET 198 189 191 
a Fiscal year. 
Such comparative statistics as are available, representing canvasses 
made by this Bureau through its field agents, show the tremendous 
loss which the State of Maine in particular has sustained through 
failure to place the permanent welfare of all the people of the State 
above the temporary gain of the fishermen. From the maximum yield 
obtained in the years 1887, 1888, and 1889, there was a meteoric fall 
to less than 30 per cent of the average for those three years, while in 
the last 11 years the decline was nearly 40 per cent. The decrease of 
the lobster in Massachusetts has been nearly as great as in Maine, 
but the effect on the general supply has been much less important. Of 
the two remaining major lobster-producing States, Connecticut ae 
pears to have been experiencing a healthy improvement during the 
past 10 years, although 1913, the best year in that period, produced 
less than 40 per cent of the yield of 20 years before, while Rhode 
Island has in recent years had a lobster catch that has been 40 to 50 
per cent larger than in any of the earlier years. 
