IKLAND i'lSHERIES COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 13 



flat fish, in April and May by liand line and shore seines, in July and the rest of 

 the season, gill nets ; two of them maintained a pound trap or heart net in Pine 

 Hill Bay (Prudence Island) the past season. E. Mitchell, of this place, says that 

 he has followed fishing for a living for twenty years — his father was a fisherman 

 before him — and that for several years past the fishing has fallen off to such an 

 extent that it has not been profitable in Greenwich Bay. The value of the fish 

 taken would not amount, he thinks, to $2,000 a year. He attributes the scarcity 

 to impurity of the water. He thinks young fish are more numerous this year 

 than he ever saw them before. 



Apponaug. — Fifteen boats and twenty-five men employed in this place 

 fishing. Method, shore seines, hand line, gill nets and eel pots. The value of 

 catch they estimate at $1,500 for several past years. I am told that fishing has 

 fallen of more than one-half what it was ten years ago. They attribute the 

 cause to trapping and heart nets in the main bay. They also report that the 

 water is impure at this place and has killed out the clams for more than a mile 

 from the bridge. Shad and herring formerly came up there, none in later 

 years. Seven sail-boats, owned in this place and Coweset, take parties fishing in 

 the summer. 



Wancick Cove. — Six boats and nine men. Method, hand line, shore seine and 

 gill-nets; value of catch the past year $500. They say the fishing has fallen off 

 two-thirds as compared to ten years ago, and attribute it to heart nets and 

 trapping. 



Warwick Neck. — Two boats, eight men. Method, shore seines. 



Mill Cove, Wancick. — Four boats, seven men. Method, hand line, shore 

 seines and gill-nets; value of catch, $800. They report an abundance of small 

 fish of this year's growth. They report the same scarcity as the others in re- 

 gard to former years, and lay it to heart nets and trapping. 



Wickford. — Ten men in this place eke out a living by hand line fishing, lobster 

 pots and eel pots. H. Farnum, pharmacist of Wickford, has two heart nets, 

 worked by J. O. Lewis on shares. Mr. Farnum says he invested $300 in put- 

 ting out two heart nets this Spring, and let them out to J. O. Lewis on shares, 

 he receiving one-third of gross amount of catch. Up to date, (Sept. 10th) he 

 had received $160. Reliable information gives thirty men in the fishing busi- 

 ness in this place. 



Dutch Island Harbo)'. — There are eleven men, all of them named King, who 

 follow fishing for a business. Two of them are hand-liners and lobster catchers, 

 two hand-liners and pilots, and the other seven, trappers. It is impossible to get 

 a correct and truthful report from any of them. We interviewed five of them, 

 and could get no correct value of fish taken by them yearly. 



