LOBSTERS. 137 



to say that 20,000,000 lobsters were taken in Nova Scotia 

 in the summer of 1874. It has been estimated that in 

 the two provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia 

 50,000,000 tons weight of lobsters are used up by the tin- 

 men in a year. Fresh lobsters in the Halifax market 

 cost one penny each. They are probably bought much 

 cheaper by the manufacturers. Now, here we have a 

 Crustacea, very tenacious of life, which can be bought 

 in immense numbers for one penny each in Halifax, while 

 the price of lobsters in Liverpool is about two shillings. 

 We have also a line of steamers running direct from one 

 port to the other, and making the distance in ten days. 

 Is it unreasonable to expect that sooner or later some 

 ingenious persons will turn these Nova Scotian lobsters 

 into British gold ? 



This fishery will be of immense value some day, if, 

 indeed, it be not destroyed in the meantime by reckless 

 fishing. The Yankees have killed off the lobsters on 

 their own shores, and now they pursue them to Nova 

 Scotia, and carry them off in tins. We have seen above 

 the amount of raw material consumed in this business. 

 The waste that takes place is deplorable. Only the 

 tails and big claws are made use of, the bodies, legs, &c., 

 are thrown aside for manure or washed away by the tide. 

 So it comes to pass that three lobsters, weighing two 

 pounds each, go to fill a one-pound can. 



There is a law against taking any lobsters under 1 Ib. 

 weight, or any female lobster in spawn ; but this law, like 

 other protective measures, is almost a dead letter. It 

 unfortunately so happens that the natural close season, 

 i. e. the season in which the lobster spawns, is the very 



