372 GEOGRAPHICAL EEVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



$5 per acre. There are no free grounds or toleration fees. The beds used to be carefully watched 

 to prevent stealing. The stealing of oysters or other products of the water is not looked on as an 

 offense so great as stealing the products of the laud. In the prosecution of an oyster thief no 

 oysterman can sit on the jury. It is difficult to prove theft in the night, as the location of the 

 boat is hard to swear to. An average catch of oysters for a man is 60 bushels per week on good 

 grounds. They are worth from $1.25 to $1.50 per bushel. Planting is increasing, although most 

 grounds which are, fit are now planted. Not many of the animals which elsewhere prove such 

 destructive enemies of the young bivalves frequent these waters. No borers or drills are ever found, 

 except when brought in on foreign seed. Seed comes from Newark Bay and up the sound. The 

 men think that seed from New Haven, Conn., grows faster, but that that from Blue Point is surer. 

 Clams are not very plenty. Crabs are caught when hard and kept until they have shed. They 

 are worth $1 to $1.50 per dozen in the spring, and 30 to 75 cents in summer. Eels are taken in 

 pots mainly, aad are mostly consumed at home. Surf fishing for striped bass and bluefish was 

 poor in the fall of 1880, but good in the previous spring. Three 10-ton sloops, carrying three men 

 each, fish for cod from November 1 to April, having an average catch of 90,000 pounds. The total 

 tonnage of the small boats on the bay is about GOO tons. 



SEAFORD, OR SOUTH OYSTER BAY. There are six fishermen here, of whom four are married. 

 The families dependent upon the latter contain about fourteen persons. The capital invested in 

 boats amounts to $500; in nets, $1,500. The catch last year was as follows: Eels, 5,000 pounds; 

 fresh fish, 10,000 pounds; hard crabs, 100 barrels; soft crabs, 200 dozen. 



EIDGEWOOD, OR BELLMORE. There are five fishermen here, and ten persons are dependent 

 upon the three who are married; $500 are invested in boats and $1,000 in nets. The following is 

 the catch for the past year: Eels, 3,000 pounds; fresh fish, 10,000 pounds; hard crabs, 100 barrels; 

 soft crabs, 100 dozen. 



MERRICK. The settlement of Merrick has ten fishermen, of whom six are married, and a total 

 of forty of the inhabitants are dependent upon the fisheries; $1,000 are invested in boats, and in 

 nets $1,500. The catch last year amounted to 2,000 pounds of eels, 30,000 pounds of fresh fish, 

 200 barrels of hard crabs, and 300 dozen soft crabs. 



HEMPSTEAD BAY AND EOCKAWAY. This bay opens into the western end of South Oyster 

 Bay. and, like the latter, is dotted with islands. Fowr hundred men are engaged in oysteriug and 

 clamming in its waters. The Eockaway oysters are well known in the markets, 200,000 bushels 

 being produced annually. The capital invested in the oyster business amounts to $100,000; 15,000 

 bushels of hard clams and 75,000 bushels of soft clams are taken, and 400 bushels of mussels are 

 sent to market for pickling. Three-fourths of the shipments go to New York by boats. Fishing 

 is done with seines, fykes, hand-lines, and eel-pots. Some of the fish are hauled to New York by 

 wagon and sold outside the markets. 



FREEPORT. There are ten fishermen at this place, of whom four are married ; twenty-five 

 persons in all are dependent on the fisheries. About $1,000 are invested in boats and $2,000 

 in nets. The catch for the last year was as follows: Eels, 24,000 pounds; fresh fish, 650,000 

 pounds; hard crabs, 100 barrels; soft crabs, 300 dozen. At times the fishermen get extra help, 

 and form gangs of four men each for seining in the bay, or of nine men each for surf fishing in the 

 fall or spring. A few shad have been taken here, the number last year amounting to 500. 



BALDWIN. Twenty fishermen live here, and, including the families of the ten who are married, 

 seventy-five persons are dependent upon the fisheries. There are $3,000 invested in boats and 

 $8,000 in nets. The catch for last year was: Eels, 10,000 pounds; fresh fish, 250,000 pounds; 

 hard crabs, 300 barrels; soft crabs, 2,000 dozen. 



