MARYLAND: SALT-WATER FISHERIES. 429 



dant in the waters of that region. It is said that fully 1,500,000 crabs were purchased by the 

 company in 1880, the products of the cannery amounting to 135,000 cans, valued at 86,850. There 

 are two similar establishments at Hampton, Va. Aside from the canning interests large numbers 

 of hard crabs are shipped from different points to the larger markets. The crab is thus a very 

 important species to the fishermen, who derive considerable money from its capture and sale. 



CLAMS AND TERRAPIN. Clams are less abundant in Maryland than in Virginia, and most of 

 the clammers of the former State visit Virginia waters to secure their supply, though the laws are 

 supposed to prohibit them from doing so. The species occurs in limited quantities, however, near 

 the southern boundary of Maryland, and some clamming is done iu that locality, the catch being 

 used locally or shipped by rail and steamer from Crisfleld. A few terrapin are found along the 

 salt-water marshes, but the catch is so small as to be of little commercial importance. 



STATISTICS OF THE FISHERIES. The number of men directly interested iu the salt-water 

 fisheries, excluding oysters, is 305, of whom 275 are fishermen, the remainder being shoremen and 

 factory hands. The fishing- vessel fleet is limited to 6 sail, aggregating about 105 tons, and valued 

 at 84,300. In addition to these, 200 boats, worth $6.300; 2 pound nets, worth $1,500; 1,500 pots 

 and baskets, worth $1,000; 300 gill-nets, worth $4,500; 1 purse-seine, valued at $400, and CO 

 drag-seines, valued at $2,225, are used in the fisheries of the State. Adding the value of the 

 single menhaden factory at Crisfield and other shore property, and the cash capital of the factory 

 and dealers, we have a total dependent capital of $43,825. 



The totiil quantity of fish taken for food during the year 1880 was 705,000 pounds, of which 

 775,000 pounds were sold in a Iresh state and 20,000 pounds wefre salted, while 4,050,000 pounds 

 were taken to be used as a fertilizer. About 10,000 terrapin, 3,500,000 crabs, and 5,000 bushels of 

 quahaugs, were taken during the sa,me season; these, together with the foregoing, make a grand 

 total of 0,0*81,607 pounds of sea products taken by the fishermen of Maryland. The total value of 

 the same to the producer is $88,451, and their estimated market value exceeds $175,000. 



C. REVIEW OF THE OUSTER INDUSTRY. 



159. TOE OYSTER INTERESTS OF MARYLAND. 

 By RICHARD H. EDMONDS. 



The Chesapeake Bay and its numerous salt-water tributaries contain the most prolific and 

 valuable oyster beds in the world, probably about equally divided between the two States of Mary- 

 land and Virginia. Notwithstanding the great importance and value of the oyster trade of the 

 Chesapeake Bay, it is a subject upon which there has been no reliable information, either as regards 

 its extent, the amount of capital invested, or the past and present condition of the business. The 

 legislatures of Maryland and Virginia have, at every session for many years, revised and re-revised 

 the laws upon this subject for their respective States ; but have always been content to work in 

 the dark, knowing nothing practically, and never seeing the value of obtaining full information 

 upon so important an industry. There is, perhaps, no subject of such vital importance to either 

 State that is so little understood. By some it is as greatly overestimated as it is underestimated 

 by others. Many who have never lived near the water, and who gain their information from the 

 rose-colored pictures drawn by correspondents who see only the best features of the trade, imagine 

 that an oyster-bed is a mine of wealth, from which every oysterman may gather a liberal compe- 

 tence with but little labor. Nothing could be more erroneous. 



