634 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



manner above described, and finally another layer or covering of the same grass or seaweed. In 

 this condition they will remain alive for several days, except in very warm weather. Hard 

 crabs are generally sent in barrels. Baskets are also employed for transporting crabs in some 

 localities, especially at New Orleans, and on other parts of the Gulf coast. On the Southern coast 

 crabs are sometimes boiled before shipping. 



3. EXTENT AND CHARACTER OP THE FISHERY. 



The crab industry of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is very extensive, and gives employment 

 to many persons. It had, however, never been carefully studied previous to the investigations for 

 the census of 1880, and being carried on mostly in a small way by fishermen scattered irregularly 

 along the coast, it has been impossible in the short time at our disposal to bring together any- 

 thing like a complete account of its extent and value. 



The crab fishery, like most other fisheries, is not kept up continuously throughout the year, 

 and the people engaged in it during the summer generally have other occupations in the winter. 

 A large share of the crab catchers are women and children, especially at the South, where 

 many of the colored people, living upon the sea-coast, devote a portion of their time to hunting out 

 the soft crabs and selling them in the nearest towns. At numerous places, however, a regular 

 crab fishery is carried on throughout the entire season for the purpose of supplying the larger 

 markets, like New York, Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans, or the crab canneries, as at 

 Hampton, Va. The number of crabs used as bait is very great and their value considerable. 



Southern New England cannot be said to have any regular crab fishery. About New Bed- 

 ford many crabs are taken for bait and for eating, and at other places smaller quantities are 

 captured and made use of; but very few persons, if any, devote their entire attention to this industry, 

 even fora short period. Most of the blue crabs eaten in the interior New England towns and in 

 Boston, come from farther south, through the New York markets. New Bedford makes some ship- 

 ments to Providence and New York. Both the north and south shores of Long Island furnish 

 many crabs, the bulk of those not used at home going to New York and Brooklyn. New 

 Jersey is the center of the soft crab industry, and many more soft crabs are taken there for home 

 consumption and shipment than in any other State in the Union. The fishery is principally con- 

 fined to the section of coast between Sandy Hook and Baruegat Inlet, and a large share of the 

 crabs sold in New York come from this region. 



The lower part of Chesapeake Bay, bordering on the States of Virginia and Maryland, is said 

 to be the center of distribution, as regards abundance, of the edible crab ; but the fishery in this 

 region, outside of the canneries, is not as important in money value as that of New Jersey, 

 maittly perhaps for the reason that the larger markets are more distant, and soft crabs not so 

 easily obtained. The large crab canneries are all located here. In North Carolina the crab 

 fishery is mainly confined to the neighborhood of Wilmington, and in South Carolina to the 

 neighborhood of Charleston, at both of which places a large business is carried on. Savannah is 

 the center of the Georgia crab industry, which is very extensive. Florida appears to be but little 

 interested in crab fishing, although crabs are abundant on both the eastern and western coasts. 

 Mobile, Ala., receives large quantities of crabs from the neighboring coast for its own use, but 

 ships only a few. The crab fishery is extensively pursued on the coasts of both Louisiana and 

 Texas to supply the markets of New Orleans, Galveston, and interior towns. 



In the Northern cities and towns crabs are regularly sold in the markets along with fish, but 

 at the South (from North Carolina southward), they are generally hawked through the streets by 

 negroes. 



