II. 



THE FISHERIES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



A. REVIEW OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AND ITS FISHERIES. 



51. GENERAL DESCRIPTION WITH STATISTICS. 



THE COAST LINE AND THE FISHERIES. New Hampshire has an area of about 9,491 square 

 miles, yet its only coast line is a short stretch of 18 miles wedged in between Maine and Massachu- 

 setts. In this limited space, there are some small coves for fishing vessels, but the only harbor for 

 ships or the larger class of fishing vessels is that of Portsmouth, uear the entrance of Piscataqua 

 Eivcr. The ocean shore is mostly a sandy beach backed by salt marshes, and near the mouth of the 

 river are some clam flats. A few miles off the coast in Ipswich Bay are the well-known Isles of 

 Shoals which in years gone by were quite important as a fishing station, but now given over to 

 summer hotels. 



The entire coast and islands are included in one customs district, with Portsmouth as the port 

 of entry. This is the principal city in the State, both in population and in commercial importance. 

 The other places where fisheries are carried on are Exeter, New Market, New Castle, and the Isles 

 of Shoals. 



The inhabitants of the coast towns of New Hampshire have for very many years given atten- 

 tion to the fisheries as a means of support and profit. As early as 1623, "The Company of Laconia," 

 organized by merchants from the west of England, obtained patents for a large tract of country, 

 including portions of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. This company established fish- 

 ing stations in New Hampshire, on the Piscataqua Eiver near Dover, and at Odiorne's Point. At 

 Portsmouth a considerable foreign trade was carried on about a hundred years ago, and the bank 

 fisheries for cod claimed much attention. 



According to Belkuap*, the fishery at Piscataqua and its neighborhood, for the year 1791, not 

 including the fisheries at the Isles of Shoals, employed in the cod and scalefish fishery 27 schooners 

 and 20 boats, measuring 630 tons, and 250 seamen. The products of the New Hampshire fisheries 

 for the year 1791, including the fisheries of the Isles of Shoals, were 5,170 quintals merchantable 

 fish, 14,217 quintals Jamaica fish, and 6,463 quintals scale fish ; making the total, 25,850 quintals. 

 The success of the fishery that season was uncommonly good. An estimate of the total number 

 of seamen belonging to New Hampshire in the same year states that there were 500 in foreign 

 trade, 50 in coasting trade, and 250 in the fisheries. Some of the seamen who in summer were 

 employed in the fishery, were in the winter engaged in the coasting business or in foreign voyages. 



The number of entries of vessels at Piscataqua in the coasting trade and cod fishery during 

 the year ended October 1, 1791, was 50, and the tonnage was 1,166 tons. 



I<IIE FISHERIES FROM 1867 TO 1879. From the records of the custom-house it appears that 

 the fishing fleet of the Portsmouth district has at times numbered as high as from 100 to 125 sail. 



* Belknap's History of New Hampshire. Boston : 1792. Vol. III. 



105 



