THE LOBSTER FISHERY. 697 



authenticated by the strongest evidence; yet it is claimed by many that the markets are con- 

 stantly supplied with nearly, if not quite, as large quantities of lobsters as ever, and this fact is con- 

 sidered by them as entirely refuting the arguments in support of a universal and serious decrease. 

 Unfortunately the statistics that are obtained of most industries are not of a character to make 

 them of much value in the case of the lobster fishery, even if such statistics were extant. The 

 increased quantity of lobsters now coming from any one region is only obtained through the ag< ncy 

 of a greater number of fishermen, usiug a larger number of improved traps, while the average catch 

 per man or trap may be much less than formerly. In respect to this it is often argued that a 

 return to the former state of the fishery would bring about the same condition of affairs as origi- 

 nally existed ; and the fact that the catch of each man or trap is now relatively less than it has 

 been in regions where the number engaged in the fishery has increased, is certainly not a fair 

 argument in favor of decrease. But there are other and more positive evidences of decrease, many 

 of which are discussed further on, and the statements of persons thoroughly acquainted with the 

 subject appear to furnish conclusive proof that the market supplies from our own coast have been, 

 constantly diminishing from year to year. 



The marked decrease in the average size of the lobsters brought to market, as described in 

 Section I, Part V, of this report, should probably also be regarded as an indication of decrease in 

 abundance; and the wholesale slaughter of females with eggs, which has always been going on, 

 would naturally have tended to diminish the supply. Not being truly migratory in their habits, but 

 remaining on about the same grounds, as is supposed, year after year, coming into shallow water 

 in the spring and retiring into deeper water near at hand in the fall, it is the commonly accepted 

 opinion that the schools do not generally receive many accessions from other regions ; and thus 

 arises the possibility of any one region 1 eing readily depleted by overfishiug. With migratory 

 fishes the case is different, but the two have often been compared. 



An illustration of the rapidity with which the lobsters of a small area may be caught up, is 

 furnished by a salt-water inlet on the coast of Maine, in which lobsters were at one time very 

 abundant. The basin opened directly into the sea, and was large enough to afford a remunerative 

 fishery to several lobstermen. Two years' time was sufficient to reduce the supply of lobsters 

 to such an extent that fishing became unprofitable. After an interval of about five years they 

 became again abuudaut, and the supply was once more exhausted. Had this inlet not been so situ- 

 ated that it readily received accessions from without, it is probable that it would have required a 

 much longer time to become replenished. 



On a much larger scale has been the depletion of the once noted grounds about Cape Cod, 

 Massachusetts, which at one lime furnished nearly all the lobsters consumed in New York. In 

 the early part of the century, this fishery was entirely in the har.ds of fishermen from other S:ates, 

 principally Connecticut, who came 1o Cape Cod with their smacks, and after catching a 1< ad car- 

 ried it to New York or Bos' on. As early as 1812 the citizens of Provincetown realized the 

 danger of exhausting tin- grounds about their town, and succeeded in having a protective law 

 passed by the State legislate. More or less stringent regulations respecting the lobster fishery 

 of Cape Cod have been in force from that time down to di.te, and they have probably done good 

 service in prolonging the fishery, but tlie peiiod of its prosperity has long since ceased, as con- 

 tinued overfishing has so exhausted the grounds, on almost every portion of Cape Cod, that they 

 arc no longer profitable even to the few men who still set their traps there. From the sketch of 

 this region given further on, it will be seeu that the decrease has not been a temporary one, 

 although an entire rest for a long period of time might possibly allow it to recover more or less 

 of its former abundant supplies. As it is, no large catches an- now made and but few lobsters are 

 carried away from the cape. 



