MAINE: DISTRICT OP PORTLAND AND FALMOTJTH. 89 



shelled clams (Mya arenaria) were used, from which 38,400 cans of clams and 14,400 cans of clam- 

 chowder were prepared. Over $53,000 were paid to the fishermen for their catch; 810,000 were 

 paid to the employe's for their labor; and the manufactured products, including cans, cases, <Jcc., 

 had a market value of $157,500. 



' lu addition to their work on the coast of Maine, the above firms have seventeen canneries in 

 the British Provinces, distributed as follows : Three in New Brunswick, 11 in Nova Scotia, 1 on 

 Prince Edward Island, 1 on the Magdalen Islands, and 1 in Newfoundland. About $214,000 

 capital is required for carrying on their business, and the figures for 1880 showed that 10,588,578 

 pounds of live lobsters were used in packing 1,916,090 one-pound cans, and 281,928 cans of other 

 brands. Owing to the duty on the tin in which the lobsters are packed, over 95 per cent, of the 

 products were sent directly to England, Prance, and Germany, or passed through the United States, 

 in bond, en route for those countries. 



The above firms have storehouses, can-factories, and offices in and about Portland valued at 

 over $50,000, and eighty men are employed for three or four months each winter in making the cans 

 that are to be used during the following season, which, in Maine, is limited by law to the mouths 

 of April, May, June, and July. 



THE FRESH-FISH TRADE. The wholesale fresh-fish trade of Portland is controlled by seven 

 firms located in the vicinity of Custom-house and Commercial Wharves. They obtain a greater 

 part of their cod and haddock in summer from the local fishermen, who set their trawls off the 

 outer islands of Casco Bay in from thirty to forty fathoms of water. The boats laud about 400 

 pounds each trip, making an average of three trips a week during the fishing season. Formerly 

 the mackerel were furnished by the numerous "drag-boats" of the locality, but of late, owing to 

 the scarcity and small size of the fish, the number of these boats has greatly diminished, and the 

 supply is now obtained from the seining fleet, or is occasionally brought from Boston. Sword-fish 

 are landed in considerable numbers by the boats and vessels fishing along the shore irorn the 1st of 

 July till the 15th of August. Three or four small schooners visit different localities from Cape 

 Elizabeth to the Bay of Pundy for halibut, but the catch is usually very limited and a large part 

 of the supply is brought from Gloucester. Late in the fall some of the larger vessels that have 

 previously been employed in the offshore cod and mackerel fisheries fit out with trawls for the 

 winter shore fisheries, catching cod, hake, and haddock, which are usually sold fresh in Portland. 



The wholesale dealers handle between seven and eight million pounds of fresh fish annually. 

 Probably three-eighths of the entire quantity, if we include those used for smoking, are haddock, 

 one-fourth are cod, the bulk of the remainder being composed of mackerel, hake, pollock, sword- 

 fish, salmon, and herring. 



About half of the fresh fish are sold in Canada aud the greater part of the remainder are sent 

 to Boston and the interior cities of Maine, New Hampshire, aud New York. The dealers occupy 

 property valued at $24,000, aud have $10,000 additional capital invested in the business. Twenty- 

 four men are constantly employed in boxing aud icing fish, and twenty seven others are required 

 to assist during the busy season, which lasts about five or six months. 



The retail fish trade is divided between the regular merchants, who rent buildings and deal 

 exclusively in sea products, and the peddlers that vend fish from hand-carts and wagons through 

 the city and surrounding country. There are eight regular retail dealers, each doing a fair trade. 

 They buy chiefly of the wholesalers and seldom deal directly with the fishermen. The number of 

 peddlers varies considerably with the season, the average being about forty. This class is made 

 up largely of aged fishermen who have worn themselves out by exposure in their open boats, aud 

 are now satisfied with the small amount of money that can be made in this way. 



