608 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



much inferior to those at Sandy Hook, being valued at only about $90 each. They were intro- 

 duced here about 1870. On account of the difficulty of finding a market for their catch they stock 

 on an average only about $400 a season. 



The fishing season about Sandy Hook extends from May to November if the weather permits, 

 and in Delaware Bay from March 1 to the middle of June. 



The chief varieties of fish taken are weakfish, or squeteague, Spanish mackerel, butterfish, 

 bluefish, sheepshead, bonitos, and shad. In Delaware Bay, as I have just stated, great quantities 

 of king-crabs are caught. 



The financial arrangements present no especial peculiarities. The products of the nets go 

 mainly to New York and Philadelphia. The prices are frequently so low that the fishermen cannot 

 dispose of the fish to any advantage, and often let them loose in the water. This is more espe- 

 cially the case southward. 



The number of nets in use in the State in 1880 was twenty-seven, valued at $19,800. 



Regarding the introduction of pound-fisheries into New Jersey, Mr. Earll says that the first 

 pounds fished there were very small, and were placed along the inner shore of Sandy Hook. The 

 same style of pounds were fished until about 1873, when larger ones were placed along the ocean 

 shore, and their importance in connection with the Spanish mackerel fishery was then discovered. 

 The majority of the mackerel secured about Sandy Hook are now taken in this way. One hundred 

 fish in number was considered an average daily catch for the fishing season of 1879, and 100 to 

 140 for 1880, though much larger catches were occasionally secured. The best day's fishing for 

 a pound-net in that locality occurred in the summer of 1879 when Mr. Robert Potter took 3,500 

 pounds, valued at $700, at a single lift. 



11. POUND NET FISHERIES OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY. 



Between New Jersey and Chesapeake Bay there are no pound-net fisheries. In the latter 

 locality the fishery has been engaged in since 1858, having been introduced from New Jersey in 

 that year. Mr. Earll, in his account of the Spanish mackerel fisheries on a preceding page, says 

 that the pound-net was introduced into the Chesapeake against the prejudice of the fishermen, but 

 has revolutionized the fisheries of Virginia. Prior to 1870 the fisheries of the region were of little 

 importance, being carried on with hand-lines and drag-seines for a few weeks in the spring and fall, 

 while to-day the Chesapeake is the center of one of the most important shore fisheries in the United 

 States. The pound-net has not only more than doubled the catch of ordinary fishes, but it has 

 brought to the notice of the fishermen many valuable species that were previously almost unknown 

 to them. In 1880, 162 pounds were fished in Virginia waters, with two others located at Crisfield, 

 Maryland, just above the Virginia line. 



In general make-up the net employed in Chesapeake Bay corresponds closely to that in use in 

 Vineyard Sound. Each costs about $1,000, a second set of netting being used when the first is taken 

 out to be dried and repaired. In the warm waters of this region the netting cannot remain down 

 more than two or three weeks without being seriously injured. 



The hauling of the pounds is carried on by three or four men from a boat. When there is a 

 large run of " scrap fish," or when the catch is large, a signal is given and a flat boat or scow is 

 sent out from the shore to receive the surplus. It is taken to the point on the outside of the net, 

 and the worthless fish are thrown into it as fast as the marketable ones are sorted out. Frequently 

 both boats are loaded and the fish are culled after reaching the shore. 



