THE FISHERIES OF RHODE ISLAND. 



A. REVIEW OF miODE ISLAND AND ITS FISHERIES. 



91. DESCRIPTION OF THE STATE AND EXTENT OF ITS FISHERIES. 



GENERAL REVIEW. The State of Rhode Island is about 50 miles long and 35 miles wide 

 Its continental shore-line is only 45 miles, yet, with its numerous bays, 320 miles of shore are. 

 washed by the tide. It is divided into two unequal parts by Narragansett Bay, which extends 

 inland some 30 miles from the ocean. Throughout the State there are fresh-water ponds, and in 

 the southern part some large ponds of salt-water. The bays embraced within the State limits are 

 Bountifully supplied with fish; some species are fit for food, others only for the manufacture of 

 manure. The ponds contain abundant shell-fish. The State derives its name from the island 

 called Rhode Island in the middle of Narragansett Bay, and upon which are the towns of New- 

 port and Portsmouth and the village of Bristol Ferry. 



It is claimed by geographers that Rhode Island is the Vinland of the Northmen, and that the 

 famous Dighton Rock, on Taunton River, bearing some strange hieroglyphics is a memorial of the 

 visit of Thorfiu, in the tenth century. The celebrated stone mill at Newport is by some supposed 

 to be another monument left by very early visitors to these shores. 



Into Narragansett Bay empty the Taunton, Providence, and other rivers. The city of Provi- 

 dence, an important manufacturing and commercial center, is on the Providence River, some 15 

 miles from the bay. Here is an excellent harbor. No fisheries are now carried on at Providence, 

 though when the whale fishery was at its height this place, in common with Warren, Portsmouth, 

 and Newport, had its whaling fleet. 



The colonial records of Rhode Island give evidence that the early settlers were engaged in 

 carrying on the fisheries, especially for the capture of shad and shell-fish, and frequently whales 

 were "cast up on the shores, and being cut in pieces were sent far and near as a most palatable 

 present." The Indians were accustomed to use nets made of hemp, and to shoot the bass as they 

 became entangled in the meshes of the net. Sturgeon were taken with harpoons, and were very 

 highly prized for food. In 1731 the authorities passed an act for the encouragement of the cod 

 and whale fisheries, and granted a bounty of 5 shillings a quintal for codfish caught by Rhode 

 Island vessels ; 5 shillings a barrel for whale oil, and 1 penny a pound for whalebone. As a result 

 of this encouragement the fisheries increased in importance, and at the period of the Revolution- 

 ary war were very profitable to the inhabitants. In 1789 one hundred and one vessels, many of 

 them whalers, were owned at Providence. The war of 1812 caused the decline of the whale fishery; 

 after the war it revived and from 1840 to 1850 a number of whaling vessels were owned at 

 several ports in the State, but the business is now entirely abandoned. 



In 1860 the general fisheries of the State yielded 118,611 barrels of menhaden and other fish 



for manure and oil, worth $27,817; about $25,000 worth of food fish; and $11,692 worth of clams 



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