14 INLAND FISHERIES COMMISSIONERS' REPORT, 



Suu7iders' Toicn, (opposite Dutch Island.) — Three men and three heart nets. 

 Lobster pots and cod-fishing in winter. 



Bristol. — Twelve men follow hand line fishing. Two men have four heart 

 nets in the vicinity, one at Mount Cove, one at Hog Island, one at the ferry, one 

 in the harbor. They report their catch at about 75,000 pounds for the year 1879. 

 The hand line fishermen report slim fishing the past few years at this place. 



I^ewjwrt. — I have found that there are about one hundred men who follow 

 fishing for a living here; twenty-five trappers and about seventy-five band-liners, 

 also twenty boatmen who take parties fishing. 1 have interviewed very many 

 of them, and they all tell the same story, if they have no interest in traps or 

 heart nets, and all say that these have injured and almost ruined the fishing in 

 the bay. I have the names of seventy men who fish with hand lines most of 

 the year. James Holt and William Holt say thej^ have been fishermen for more 

 than twenty years. The value of fish taken by them each year would not ex- 

 ceed $200. They have to rely on lobster catching for a living. They think 

 that their catch is more than an average of hand line fishermen, and includes 

 cod fishing in the fall and winter months. 



Twenty-five men are interested in heart nets and traps; (the Captain gives a 

 list of their names and location of the heart nets. — Commissioner.) all of whom 

 were very reluctant to give any inforination about their business and also re- 

 fused Mr. Rumlein, who had to adopt other methods. The hand line fishermen 

 were always ready to give any information in their power, and all agreed that 

 the heart nets were profitable to those engaged in the business. The boatmen 

 also were very ready. Their interest is involved in the matter, as they rely for 

 their support in part in taking parties fishing in the summer months. 



Mr. Alger, boat builder on Long Wharf for the past thirty years, gave a great 

 deal of information as to the fisheries, past and present. He personally knows 

 almost all the fishermen, hand-liners and trappers. He is related to two (trap- 

 pers) who only fish four months in the year, and he estimates their profits at 

 $800, and they make more than he does working all the time. His estimate of 

 the value of the catch of the hand line fishermen, with lobster pots and cod- 

 fishing in the fall and winter months is at about $250 to $300, in the past five 

 years. He says there are more than twice the number of boats and men en- 

 gaged in the fisheries than there were fifteen years since, with a falling off of at 

 fifty per cent, of the catch, but prices in the meantime have doubled, in fish 

 and lobsters. 



I suppose Mr. Rumlein will get at the value of the catch of fish in our bay with 

 some accuracy, but it will require time and patience to accomplish it. Some of 

 the trappers refused to give him any information fearing the State would take 

 advantage of it to their detriment. 



