34 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



locality were sent to the Grand Banks, but from this date to 1S75, two or tliree sail were employed 

 regularly in this fishery. 



At present, two fishing vessels are owned in the town of Mount Desert, eighteen in Tremont, 

 and thirteen at the Cranberry Islands, making a total of thirty-three sail, aggregating 021.80 

 tons. These vessels, which furnish employment to 152 men, are valued at $16,650. All are 

 engaged in fishing along the shore for cod, mackerel, and other species, and in 1880 none of 

 them went beyond the limits of the Gulf of Maine. 



THE CATCHING AND CANNING OF LOBSTERS. The principal boat-fishing is for lobsters, and 

 eighty-two men were employed in this work from April to August of the present year. Each man 

 tends about ninety pots. The lobster fisheries of the island are among the oldest on this portion of 

 the coast. As early as 1853, a lobster cannery was built by Boston parties at Southwest Harbor. 

 It has continued in operation to the present day, still doing a large business. In addition to 

 lobsters, clams and mackerel are canned in considerable quantities. The first " shell lobsters' 1 

 canned in North America were put up at this place in 1879. This brand is the outgrowth of a 

 demand by wealthy British customers for whole lobsters for garnishing purposes. Finding 

 it difficult to get lobsters as commonly prepared for the trade sufficiently fresh for this purpose,, 

 the London agent for one of our leading packing establishments suggested the idea of meeting 

 this demand, and, after a certain amount of experimenting, methods were hit upon by which satis- 

 factory results were obtained. The "shell lobsters," as they are called, are selected of uniform 

 size and perfect condition from the general stock, and are placed, without being removed from the 

 shell, in long cylindrical cans, made expressly for the purpose. The method of boiling is similar 

 to that for ordinary canned lobsters, the only difference being that they are boiled a little longer 

 that the heat may penetrate the shell and thoroughly preserve the meat. During the height of 

 the season this cannery furnishes employment to fifty hands. 



THE BOAT-FISHERIES. The regular boat-fishermen number sixty two, and thirty-four others 

 fish occasionally in summer. About thirty of the lobstermen also spend more or less time in fish 

 ing after the close of the lobster season. Some of the fishermen have large boats, and venture 

 quite a distance from the shore, while others remain constantly within three or four miles of the 

 harbor. 



EXTENT OF THE FISHERIES IN 1880. There are thirteen brush weirs, valued at $2,300, owned 

 in the region. In these were caught, in 1880, over $11,000 worth of herring and mackerel. The 

 principal business in this line is at Tucker's and Gott's Islands, where large weirs are fished for 

 supplying the fishermen with bait. Some of the weir-fishermen have built ice-houses, and now 

 furnish both ice and bait to the vessels. Any surplus of large herring taken in the weirs is 

 smoked. In 1880 there were twenty-eight smoke houses, in which ,'58,000 boxes of fish were pre- 

 pared, the bulk of these being put up at Bar Harbor, in the town of Eden. 



Five firms are engaged in buying and curing fish taken by the vessels and boats, the principal 

 business being at Cranberry Isles and Southwest Harbor. In 1880 these parties employed thir- 

 teen men and handled 11,000 quin'als of cod, hake, and haddock. Fully three fourths of this 

 entire quantity were sold in Boston. 



10. TRENTON, ELLSWORTH, AND SURRY. 



TiiENTon. Trenton is a small town lying to the west of Lamoine and to the north of Mount 

 Desert. It has at present no interest in the, fisheries of the coast beyond the digging of a few 

 that are sold to the cannery at Southwest Harbor, in the town of Tremont. Formerly a few 



