TllE SCALLOP FISHERY. 575 



to Mr. F. W. True, each of the two hundred boats averaged about 120 bushels, or 100 gallons, 

 during the season, which would give a total of 24,000 bushels, or 20,000 gallons, for the fleet. 

 The scallops were sent to New York and also to Boston, and an average price of $5 per half barrel 

 was received. In 1876 the price was $7 and in 1878 only $3.50. 



Further inquiries show that this spurt at Byanuis had no precedent and has completely died 

 away, so that at present there is no catch there, or at least no shipments. 



In the Acushnet Biver, and all along the western shore of Buzzard's Bay, these little mollusks 

 abound, and their catching has come to be of considerable- importance to that locality. Mr. W. 

 A. Wilcox, who sends me notes on the subject, says that it is only eighteen years ago that a 

 fisherman of Fail haven (opposite New Bedford) was unable to sell 5 gallons that he had caught. 

 But the taste has been acquired, and a local market has grown up to important proportions, so 

 that in 1880 fourteen men and ten small boats (dories) were dredging for scallops in Buzzard's 

 Bay from the middle of October to the middle of January. Mr. Wilcox says: "These small boats 

 will take from 10 to 75 bushels a day." The men are not able or not willing to work every day, 

 however, since the tautog and other fishing calls for their attention, and there is danger of over- 

 stocking the market. It therefore happens that the total catch reported for both New Bedford 

 and Fairhaven men will not exceed 6,400 gallons, valued at $3,840, 60 cents being a fair average 

 price in this and the Boston market. The value of the investment devoted to this business 

 at Fairhaveu is about $120. 



SCALLOP FISHING IN RHODE ISLAND. The next scalloping-grouud is in Mount Hope Bay 

 and Cole's River, Massachusetts, on the eastern side of Narragausett Bay, for information in 

 regard to which I am indebted to Mr. Ludwig Kumlien. The best grounds in this neighborhood 

 lie between Gardiner's Neck and Warren's Neck and for a short distance up Cole's Biver. The 

 number of men employed there was reported at about twenty-five, seventeen of whom were 

 " cutters," or those who open the shells as fast as they are dredged and extract the edible por- 

 tion. This force was divided among eight boats. The season here begins September 1 and 

 lasts until the weather becomes too cold and stormy for work. The product for the year 1879 

 was estimated by Mr. Kumlieu's informants at 8,000 bushels, equal to 6,000 gallons, which sold at 

 60 cents, and so realized $3,600, or $150 apiece, on the average, for those engaged. Two-thirds 

 of this catch was sent to New York, the remainder going to Boston, Fall River, Mass., and 

 small neighboring towns. Complaint was made that much of the catch in 1878 had to be thrown 

 away, since there was no market for it. The investment at Cole's Biver in this business Mr. 

 Kumlien sums up at $1,040, giving $640 as value of sail boats and $400 as value of dredges and 

 other implements. I think this is too high, however, and prefer to make the sum $800. 



This brings me to perhaps the most important scallop fishery at present on the whole coast 

 that of Greenwich Bay, Rhode Island. There is said to have been some catching near Pawtuxet, 

 in Providence River, but, if true, the fishery has not yielded anything of late to amount to much. 

 The only beds of value, therefore, are to be found in Greenwich or Cowchusett Bay, an indentation 

 of the western shore of Narragansett Bay. There the scallop beds, according to a map furnished 

 by Mr. Ludwig Kumlien, are as follows : 



I. About Chippanogset Island, at the western extremity of Greenwich Bay, extending about 

 one-third of a mile from the island-shore. These are considered among the best of all the grounds. 



II. On the north shore, the beds begin near the mouth of Apponaug River and extend east- 

 ward, reaching out into the bay from a quarter to half a mile for a distance of about 2 miles, then 

 extending southward in a curve as far as the channel, and opposite Spiing Rocks, on Warwick 



