508 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



stock is usually about $2,000, though a A'essel fishing regularly when the weather is suitable will 

 do considerably better, and there are occasional catches equaling those of former years. 



The fish are brought alive to the city where they are transferred to the cars of the dealers. The 

 price realized by the fishermen is G cents apiece for those weighing 8 ounces and upwards; smaller 

 fish are counted 3 for 2, or 2 for 1. 



THE BOAT FISHERIES. The boat fisheries of Charleston have gradually grown in importance 

 until at the present time several hundred men engage regularly in the business during the spring, 

 summer, and fall. Iii winter many of the fishermen, finding the weather stormy and the hook-and- 

 liue fish at a considerable distance from the shore, seek employment as stevedores or laborers on 

 the cotton wharves of the city, this being the busy season of the year. During December and Jan- 

 uary the boat fisheries are prosecuted only by the seine fishermen, who visit the numerous hauling 

 beaches along the banks of the rivers and in the numerous tide-creeks, from 10 to 30 miles on either 

 side of the city, catching trout, small mullet, bass, and numerous other species. 



Early in January the shad fishermen begin their preparations for fishing on the Edisto, Pedee, 

 Santee, and Ashapoo Rivers, and by the last of the month they are actively engaged in the work. 

 The fisheries continue in this condition until the middle of April, when the whiting (Menticirrus 

 alburnvs) reach the shore. The work on the wharves is now nearly over, and the men, after repair- 

 ing their fishing lines and putting their boats in order, are again off for the fishing grounds. When 

 the shad fishermen return late in April they at once lay aside their seines and nets and join in the 

 hand-line fishery. The line fishing continues till late in November. 



The fishing is wholly from small open sail-boats, which carry from two to seven men each. One 

 man usually owns the boat, and the others pay from 10 to 20 cents a day for the privilege of shar- 

 ing it. In spring the boats fish along the outer shore within a few miles of the harbor, so that they 

 can run in when a storm comes suddenly upon them. During the summer months the fishermen 

 become more bold, and many of them resort to the inner blackfish banks, 10 to 15 miles from land, 

 for porgies, grunts, bastard snappers, and blackfish, while others remain on the inshore grounds 

 catching summer trout, skipjacks, croakers, and whiting. Each fisherman keeps his fish separate, 

 and during the homeward passage strings them into bunches of 3 to 5 pounds each, and on arriv- 

 ing at the wharf he sells them from the boat to dealers or peddlers at 8 to 30 cents a bunch, accord- 

 ing to the kind and the condition of the market. No one is allowed to retail his fish at the landing. 

 The average catch is from 12 to 20 bunches to the man, and the price realized from their sale aver- 

 ages between $2 and $3.50 daily. 



THE MULLET FISHERY. In September the "fat mullet" arrive, and the seine fishermen lay 

 aside their lines and repair to the outer shores of Sullivan's and Long Islands with drag-seines. The 

 roe mullet arrive in October, and a few of the fishermen continue in the fishery till they again dis- 

 appear ; but the majority return and fish with hook and line for whiting, that are quite plenty from 

 this date till the 10th of December. Large numbers of mullet are often taken during the season. 

 In 1859 it is said that 4,200 bunches, equal to 18,000 fish, were taken at one haul of the seine on 

 the beach at Sullivan's Island, and in 1868, 3,000 bunches, or 13,000 fish, were taken at a single haul 

 in the same locality. In 1879 there were seventy-two men, with twelve seines, engaged in this 

 fishery. The largest single haul was 1,100 bunches, or 5,000 mullet ; and the average catch for the 

 season was about 2,500 strings to the net. The fish were sold fresh in Charleston at an average of 

 12 cents a bunch, only an occasional barrel being salted for family use. 



Early in December the weather becomes stormy, and the whiting leave the shore. The fisher- 

 men owning seines then engage in the capture of trout and other species in the creeks, while the 

 remainder work on the wharves till the following April. 



