PA.RT IX. 



DELAWARE AND ITS FISHERIES. 



A GENERAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERY INTERESTS OF THE 



STATE. 



149. DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIOUS FISHERY INTERESTS. 



PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE KEGION. For a proper understanding of the fisheries 

 of Southern Delaware it seems desirable to give a brief sketch of the peculiar features of the 

 coast line. 



The State of Delaware, which has an area of 2,100 square miles, includes within its limits the 

 northeast portion of the low peninsula lying between Chesapeake Bay, Delaware River and Bay, 

 and the Atlantic Ocean. The northern part of the State is slightly elevated in some localities, but 

 the southern portion is almost a perfect level. This flat section of country is, however, somewhat 

 relieved by a low table-land, or ridge of sand, not exceeding GO or 70 feet in height, which extends 

 the whole length of the State from north to south near the western boundary. Most of the small 

 rivers which empty into the Delaware Bay, and in which a limited amount of fresh -water fishing 

 is carried on, have their source in the swamps which abound in this table-land. 



The entire length of the coast line of Delaware is about 95 miles. In the upper portion of the 

 State, however, that section which is bordered by the Delaware River, there are uo sea fisheries. 

 The river fisheries will be described in detail in another section of this report. A brief mention 

 will, however, be made here of the fresh-water fishing carried on in the southern portion of the 

 State in conjunction with the sea fishery. 



The most northern point in Delaware at which sea fish are taken in any considerable numbers 

 on the shores of Delaware Bay is at Kitt's Hammock, near Dover, this fishing station being about 

 25 miles northwest of Cape Henlopen. The stretch of coast lying between Kitt's Hammock and 

 the Cape is low and marshy, with scattered sand beaches or hammocks slightly elevated above 

 the surrounding swamps; from these marshes extensive flats or outlying shoals make out into 

 the- waters of the bay. 



Beyond Cape Henlopen, on the Atlantic side, the coast line runs nearly south in a straight line 

 to Williamsvillc, the boundary of the State, a distance of 21 miles. This part of the Delaware 

 coast is composed of low, narrow sand beaches, which inclose shoal bays or lagoons of considera- 

 ble extent. Rehoboth Bay, which is situated G miles south of Cape Heulopen, is a basin of this 

 description, and the largest in the State, being about four miles long in the direction of the shore 

 line and having an average width of 3 miles. Just south of Rehoboth Bay, and connected with it 



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