180 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



long wooden handle with a hoop and net attached. The drags are 

 thrown out from the stern of the boat and hauled aft as the boat pro- 

 ceeds. Two drags are usually carried by each boat. The fishermen 

 open the scallops before selling them to the dealers. The amount 

 opened was 13,147 gallons, worth $5,G53. 



In clamming, rakes ai^e used to some extent, the greater portion of the 

 clams being x>icked by hand from the bars at low tide. Many women 

 and children engage in this work. In the deeper water what is known 

 as "treading for clams" is practiced to some extent. This consists of 

 wading around and feeling for the clams with bare feet. When a clam 

 is located the fisherman reaches down in the water and brings it to the 

 surface. 



Forty-seven vessels from Carteret County are engaged in tonging 

 oysters, and 12 vessels in dredging oysters. The dredged oysters all 

 come from Pamlico Sound, as dredging is prohibited in the waters of 

 Carteret County. The catch of vessels tonging oysters amounted to 

 52,625 bushels, valued at $13,054. The vessels dredging caught 63,900 

 bushels, valued at $15,975. Eleven vessels were engaged in fishing for 

 menhaden. The porpoise fishery formerly prosecuted in this county 

 has been abandoned, owing to the diminished inducements offered to 

 engage in the same. 



The absence of shad in the species table for Carteret County is to be 

 accounted for by the removal of pound nets owned by Carteret County 

 fishermen into the waters of Craven County, their catch being credited 

 to this county. This was formerly the principal apparatus for taking 

 shad in the waters of Carteret. 



In Onslow County a form of gill net known as a "drop net" is used 

 extensively in the fisheries. They number 655, and the catch was 

 668,175 pounds, valued at $21,833. This county is noted for its mullet 

 fishery, and the trade name "New Eiver mullet" is well known through- 

 out the State. Ten seines were employed in the mullet fishery, being 

 fished in the ocean and at the mouths of the inlets along the coastal 

 line of the county. Though these nets are used primarily for mullet, 

 a few other fish are taken incidentally. The catch of mullet aggregated 

 750,000 pounds, valued at $22,108. The oyster fishery has increased, 

 and in the value of the output takes second place in the oyster industry 

 of North Carolina. The increase is chiefly owing to the better facilities 

 for marketing the catch. New Eiver oysters are much in favor, and 

 find a ready market in the Northern cities and the interior towns 

 and cities of the State. A fine grade of barrel stock is taken from the 

 private beds, which sells readily in the larger cities at $4.50 per barrel. 

 The catch of oysters amounted to 120,000 bushels, valued at $60,000, an 

 average of 50 cents per bushel. The increase over 1890 was 71,500 

 bushels, with a value of $42,400. 



The fisheries of Pender County are prosecuted in Topsail and Middle 

 sounds, Cape Fear liiver, and in Northeast River, a branch of the Cape 

 Fear. In the sounds haul seines and drop gill nets are used, the catch 



