THE LOBSTER FISHERY. 691 



condition of the market, the spring season often not beginning until the middle of April or the 1st 

 of May. May and June were considered by most canners to be the best months for their business, 

 probably because the weather was then most favorable for fishing. Mr. J. W. Jones, however, 

 regarded the fall season as generally equal to the spring. All of the canneries did not participate 

 in the fall fishery. The Maine lobster law that came into force in 1879 limits the operations of the 

 canneries, so far as concern lobsters, to the four months from April 1 to August 1, but the season 

 often does not begin until toward the middle or last of April, ' and frequently closes by the 

 middle of July. April is often a stormy month, and fishing is more or less interfered with, often 

 practically limiting the canning season to the three latter mouths. A law passed in 1885 does not 

 permit canning after July 15. Nova Scotia also has a law, dating from 1879, which limits the 

 canning of lobsters to the same months as on the coast of Maine. 



After the lobster season is over, other branches of canning are sometimes taken up by the can- 

 neries, as elsewhere explained ; many also make their cans and cases during the winter, but a 

 large number lie idle for several months. 



THE LOBSTER FISHERY IN RELATION TO CANNING. 



CHARACTER OF THE SUPPLIES. When lobster canning was first started at Eastport, the 

 lobsters were said to have ranged in weight from about 3 to 10 pounds; after three or four years' 

 time, however, the average weight was reduced to about 2 pounds, and for a considerable period 

 no lobsters weighing less than 2 pounds each were considered fit for canning. At present even 

 the maximum weight is much less for the entire coast, and most of the supplies consist of the 

 smaller lobsters that are not suitable for the fresh markets. In many places these are called cull- 

 ings, and they range in weight from about three-fourths of a pound to 1J pounds each, the average 

 weight in most localities being reckoned at about 1 pound ; in others, from seventy five to ninety 

 lobsters by count are required to make a hundred-weight. Mr. J. W. Jones estimated the average 

 weight of lobsters taken for all purposes within the canning districts, in 1879, as follows: Maine, 

 1 pounds; Nova Scotia, 2 pounds; Straits of Northumberland and Bay of Chaleur, 2 pounds; 

 Magdalen Islands, 3 pounds. The opinion prevails at many of the canneries that lobsters are 

 still as abundant as ever, though they have been constantly decreasing in size. 



There is a great loss in weight in the preparation of canned lobsters, which is said to vary 

 somewhat with the season. One hundred pounds of live lobsters yield from 17 to 25 pounds of 

 canned goods, the average being about 22 pounds. Mr. J. W. Jones states that in May 4^ 

 pounds of live lobsters will produce 1 pound of meat, but that in August 6 pounds live weight 

 are necessary to make the same amount. 



SOURCE OF SUPPLIES. The canning lobsters are generally obtained in the neighborhood of 

 the canneries where they are used, though supplies are frequently brought in from quite an 

 extended area, as explained in the Coast Review. It is estimated that on an average about fifty 

 or sixty fishermen, using from fifty to seventy-five traps each, are required to supply each of the 

 canneries during the height of the season, though in some places the number is much less. The 

 lobsters are brought to the canneries in the boats of the fishermen, or by small dry smacks sent 

 out to collect them. These smacks have been elsewhere described; many of them measure less 

 than S^tons, but some are large enough to register, and a few exceed 15 tons. In 1879 one small 

 steamer was employed in carrying lobsters to the Castine factory. Some of the smacks are owned 

 by the canneries and others by the smackmen, and are valued all the way from $125 to $1,500 

 each, the average valuation being about $350. The average number of smacks running to each 



