412 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF TUB FISHERIES. 



B. DESCRIPTION OF THE FISHERIES BY TOWNS. 



151. DOVER AND ADJACENT TOWNS. 



THE FISHEEIES or DOVEK. Dover, the capital of Delaware, is situated on the line of tbt 

 Delaware Railroad, in Kent County, about six miles from the shore of Delaware Bay. Although 

 a very limited amount of sea fish are occasionally taken higher up the bay, Dover is nevertheless 

 the most northern town in Delaware in which any fishermen are employed in the sea fisheries. 

 Eighty-five men, residents of Dover, are engaged in the fisheries, twenty-five of these being pro- 

 fessional fishermen, following this industry whenever any fish can be obtained, while the remainder 

 engage in fishing more irregularly, depending largely for their subsistence on obtaining employ- 

 ment in the large fruit-canning establishments of this section of the country and as laborers on 

 the farms at times when the fisheries are not at their height. The same may be said of the fisher- 

 men who reside in the small towns in this part of the State. All of the men engage to a greater 

 or less extent in the sea fisheries, resorting for this purpose to Kitt's Hammock, Bower's Beach, 

 and other favorite fishing stations along the shore of the bay. Some of the men, however, 

 divide their time between fishing for the species taken in the salt water and those which may be 

 caught iu the fresh-water streams and ponds in the immediate neighborhood of their homes. 



Twenty-one boats valued at $360, twenty gill-nets worth $125, and twelve haul-seines valued 

 at $600, are employed in the fisheries of Dover. The products of the fisheries are 1,346,700 pounds 

 of sea fish and anadromous species, 2,400 pounds of fresh-water fish, 300 terrapin in number, 50,000 

 clams in number, and 7,-00 crabs. The most important fishery is that for trout or weakfish (Cyno- 

 scion regale); next to which is that for shad, herring, and perch ; and third, that for sturgeon. Of 

 the trout 792,000 pounds were estimated by competent authority to have been taken in 1880; 

 31,500 pounds of shad, 180,000 pounds of herring, 120,000 pounds of perch, and 120,000 pounds of 

 sturgeon were also caught iu 1880 by the fishermen of Dover. 



For the accommodation of the Dover fishermen who resort to Kitt's Hammock to prosecute 

 their labors in the spring, five rough dwellings or shanties have been constructed, the total value 

 of which is $150. 



THE FISHERIES OF LEBANON. Proceeding in a southeasterly direction from Dover, about 

 3 miles, we come to the small hamlet of Lebanon. Bordering this place is Jones' Creek, which 

 also runs near Dover. Lebanon has twenty fishermen, who divide their time between fishing 

 in the creek and in the waters of Delaware Bay. Fifteen boats, valued at $300, and five seines, 

 worth $300, are employed in the fisheries of this place. The boats in use are bateaux, built on 

 the pattern of the sharpy, which is the ordinary type employed by all the fishermen along the 

 shores of the Delaware Bay, their average value being $20 each. Most of the fishing is carried 

 on in Jones' Creek for shad, trout, herring, perch, &c., and here have been built five fish-houses, 

 one at each of the several seining stations, these buildings being valued at the total sum of $150. 

 There are taken in all 168,950 pounds of salt-water and auadromous fish, 2,000 pounds of fresh- 

 water fish, 72 terrapin, 30,000 clams, and 3,GOO crabs. A large portion of the catch is sold in Dover 

 and to the farmers of the interior of the State, who often go from 30 to 40 miles to secure fish to 

 supply their wants. 



THE FISHERIES OF MAGNOLIA. Magnolia is another small hamlet, similar to Lebanon, and a 

 little less than 4 miles by the road from the latter, and about the same distance from the fishing 



