STURGEON FISHERY OF DELAWARE RIVER AND BAY. 



375 



Wheu the ground is firm and the location convenient, the camps are 

 built on the shore and are usually only rough shacks of unplaned pine 

 boards. Owing to the depredations committed at the isolated camps 

 when the sturgeon fishermen are not engaged in the business, it is 

 becoming more common to use vessels or scows as camps, as they can 

 be removed to a jjlace of safety at the end of each season. 



Vessels averaging about 25 net tons each and of both schooner and 

 sloop rig are used in transporting the carcasses and caviar from the 

 camps to the shippingi^oints and in carrying supplies to the camps. 

 Most of them come from the Chesapeake Bay, they being chartered 



Transporting vessel used in sturgeon fishing. 



more cheaply than local vessels. The cost is usually about $100 per 

 month and the provisions for the men in charge of the vessel. 



In the season of 1897 a small naphtha launch was used at Bayside in 

 towing the fishing boats in and out in calm weather and unfavorable 

 winds. In 1898 a small steamer of 7 net tons, valued at $10,000, was 

 used in towing boats and other work at Fishing Creek and Bayside. 



The fishing boats used are large open "gilling skiff's," and are locally 

 known as "sturgeon skiffs" in contradistinction to "shad skiffs," which 

 are very similar, but smaller. They are about 25 feet long on the keel, 

 about 8 feet beam, and will carry nearly 5 tons. Their average value is 

 about $160 each. 



