324 GEOGEAPHICAL EEVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



hard bottom, and the liability of the ever-present mud to be moved about and settle upon the 

 oyster-beds in such quantities as to kill the young and stunt the old ones. The oysters grow in 

 clusters, and are likely to be of large size, long and slender, forming 'coon-heels' and 'razor- blades.' 

 They are so clogged with mud when brought ashore that a stream from a hose must be turned 

 upon the heap before the clusters can be broken apart, preparatory to the culling for size." 



West of Guilford there are four companies of pound-fishers, employing ten men. Mr. H. 

 Fowler, of Guilford, says he has fished for twenty-five years, principally for menhaden, and takes 

 a few shad, but not in paying numbers. Some tautog, eels, flatfish, and other species are taken 

 with nets and lines, but the total amount captured is not great. 



From Sachem's Head to East Haven there are sixteen pound-nets, handled by twenty men, who 

 report the fisheries as failing for years past. But few menhaden are taken, and although shad are 

 more abundant than for several years past, the catch in 1880 was only 20,000. Edward Kelsey has 

 three pounds on Durrey's Island (included above), and takes menhaden, and occasionally other 

 fish. The catch of edible fish in this district was only 20,000 pounds, and of eels 3,000 pounds. A 

 menhaden factory at Branford employs about twenty-five men, and in 1880 produced about $12,000 

 worth of oil and guano. Three small vessels are used in carrying menhaden to the factory or in 

 capturing these fish. 



Mr. Ingersoll reports, concerning the oyster interests hereabouts, that the river at Branford 

 was once a "great natural oyster-bed, but has now become nearly depopulated, and it is hard to 

 get any seed for the outer beds. The star-fishes are reported to have damaged the beds very 

 greatly in 1878, and the drill is an ever-present enemy. Southerly storms often bury the oyster- 

 beds here wholly out of sight. This misfortune happened to one planter, after an expenditure of 

 over $1,200 on artificial beds inside of Stony Island. The whole product of the locality last year 

 was about 3,500 bushels, and half a dozen families are supported. Off Branford and East Haven 

 coast, in the deeper water of the sound, more or less ground has been granted to strangers, but 

 the results are nothing, as yet. 



"At the village of East Haven about 80 acres are under cultivation in the offshore waters of 

 the sound, devoted wholly to native oysters, for which seed is procured from neighboring beds, or 

 spawn is caught on planted shells. In 1879 the catch was 3,000 bushels, all of which were sold in 

 the shell at an average price of $1 per bushel. It is supposed there remain 20,000 bushels of 

 oysters on the ground, subject to risks from heavy storms and creeping enemies. The mode of 

 catching is by dredges at all seasons, and three men find employment at $2 wages per day." 



D. FISHERIES OF NEW HAVEN AND VICINITY. 



108. GENERAL FISHERIES OF NEW HAVEN. 



HISTORY AND PRESENT IMPORTANCE. At about the close of the last and the beginning of 

 the present century, New Haven was quite extensively engaged in the fur-seal fishery at the 

 Falkland Islands, South Shetland, Masafuero, and other seal islands. One of the famous sealing 

 voyages from this place was that of the ship Neptune which sailed in October, 1796, and returned to 

 New York July 17, 1799, having taken 50,000 fur-seal skins from the seal islands to China, where 

 they were exchanged for goods that yielded over $260,000 in New York. Other voyages were 

 those of the ship Sally in 1800, and the ship Draper in 1803. The northwest coast of America 



