THE POUND NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES. 603 



the nets are located near the villages and in close proximity to the railroad stations, so that the 

 fish can be immediately transferred to the cars. On the north shore of Martha's Vineyard it is 

 customary, to a certain extent, to send the fish by smacks to New York. Several of the pound 

 companies have, however, made an agreement with certain parties at Wood's Holl the terminus 

 of one of the branches of the Old Colony Railroad for the shipment of the products through their 

 agency to the markets. They are taken by boat from the Vineyard to Wood's Holl, and, as in the 

 case of Mouomoy, the fish are then packed in ice and shipped by rail. The nse of pockets in con- 

 nection with pounds enables the fishermen to hold tEe catch until the smacks can arrive from New 

 York ; nevertheless, those who are able to do so seem much to prefer sending by the more direct 

 route by rail. The latter arrangement, of course, produces much more regularity in the hours of 

 work in connection with the nets a matter of very considerable interest to the fishermen. The 

 practice of shipping fish in boxes, so prevalent on the north shore of the cape, is not so extensively 

 in force here. Many fish are sent in barrels, the majority of which are sugar and flour barrels pur- 

 chased from the local grocers. 



FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS. The financial arrangements differ but little from those already 

 described as existing on the north shore of Cape Cod. The net pounds are quite expensive, and 

 it is therefore necessary either that a few men invest a considerable sum or that many invest 

 small sums. It is difficult to obtain a notion of the profits of the companies. The fishermen are 

 quite reticent on this topic, and it would hardly be just to publish what information was actually 

 gathered. It is well known, however, that the profits vary considerably in different years; some- 

 times they are so great as to make the fishermen feel wealthy at the end of a single season ; but, 

 unfortunately, at the close of a succeeding year they may feel correspondingly impecunious. In 

 each company there are many silent partners. Usually only four or five men are actually engaged 

 in fishing the nets. As on the north shore of the cape, one man directs the work, and is styled 

 "captain of the pound." At the Mouomoy pounds, as I have already stated, two cooks and a 

 bookkeeper are joined to the force. The wages of the fishermen are about $50 per month. 



WEIRS IN BUZZARD'S BAY. At Fairhaven and at some other points near the head of Buzzard's 

 Bay there are from 25 to 30 pound-nets for the capture of alewives, tautog, scup, squeteague, blue- 

 fish, and eels, also menhaden and other species used for oil or manure. The pounds, locally called 

 weirs, are made of twine fastened to poles, and cost from $400 to $500 each. They have leaders 

 400 to 500 feet long. The average depth of bowl is 18 feet, with a diameter of 50 feet. They are 

 fished from March 15 to July 15, and again from August 15 to November or December. The fish- 

 ermen pay a laud-lease for their weirs of from $5 to $75 a season, according to the location. The 

 catch is marketed at New Bedford and the nearer cities, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. 



Mr. D. W. Deane, who for more than twenty-five years has been engaged in fishing with weirs 

 in Buzzard's Bay, gives the following dates of the first appearance of each species of fish in 1880: 



"March 24, caught the first menhaden, alewife, smelt, tomcod, flatfish; April 1, tautog, skate, 

 perch; April 6, sea-herring, eel; April 14, shad; April 15, striped bass; April 17, scup; April 24, 

 dogfish, mackerel; April 26, rock bass; April 27, sea-robin; April 28, squid; May 8, butterfish, 

 kingfish; May 11, squeteague; May 12, flounder; May 13, bluefish; June 8, stinging ray; June 7, 

 sand shark; June 10, shark; June 25, bonito. On July 10 the weirs were taken up, and put down 

 agaiu August 26, on which day the first seres was taken. This is a gold-colored fish about the 

 size of the scup, a very palatable fish. It is quite common some seasons during August and Sep- 

 tember. August 30, first Spanish mackerel; September C, first razor-fish; September 6, first 

 goose-fish." 



