702 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



DEER ISLE, ME. Lobster fishing began at Deer Isle In 1852, the men of that locality being 

 first induced to fish for lobsters by smackmen from Portland and Boston. The first cannery in the 

 district was established at Oceanville a short time prior to 1860. The lobster-pots were first set 

 on trawls in 1864, and for some years this method of handling them was continued to a large 

 extent, but it has since been abandoned. The use of nets for catching flounders and sculpins for 

 bait began in 1874. The lobster fishery was started at Isle au Haute about 1855, or about three 

 years later than at Deer Isle. 



SWAN'S ISLAND, ME. The fishery for lobsters was begun at Swan's Island, according to Mr. 

 David Smith, by four men from Gloucester, Mass., who employed others to assist them. They 

 made only one trip, however, but the inhabitants of the island at once took up the fishery, and 

 ten men engaged in it up to 1855. Then came an interval of inactivity, which continued three or 

 four years. In 1860, eight or ten men were again lobstering, and setting from thirty to forty pots 

 each. 



EASTPORT, ME. The process of canning lobsters was introduced at Eastport, in 1842, but at 

 that time lobsters were not known to occur in that vicinity in sufficient abundance to induce the 

 people to fish for them. Smacks were, therefore, sent far to the westward for supplies, stopping 

 at the different fishing stations along the coast. la 1855 they first began to fish extensively for 

 lobsters about Eastport, and from that date until about 1865, the fishery continued to develop, 

 reaching its height about the latter year. Since 1865, however, it has greatly fallen off on the 

 American side of this district, although it has proportionally increased among the British Islands 

 of the vicinity. The canning interests gave an increased impetus to the fishery about 1872. 

 Formerly the greater part of the catch was sold to the canneries, but since the great demand 

 for fresh lobsters in Boston and New York has reached this most distant point of our coast, 

 the largest and best lobsters have all been shipped westward. 



PROVINCETOWN, MASS. A complete history of the industries of Provincetown, Mass., would 

 afford an exceedingly interesting chapter regarding the origin, development, and subsequent 

 decline of one of the most important fisheries of the New England coast, the once famous lobster 

 fishery of Cape Cod, which for a series of years furnished New York City with nearly all of its 

 supplies. Unfortunately, however, our record is very fragmentary, though interesting as far 

 as it goes. 



The following account of the lobster laws and regulations of the town, to 1850, was prepared 

 by Mr. Frederick W. True: 



A description of Provincetown in 1802 contains the following statement : " Lobsters of an 

 excellent quality are obtained in great abundance on both sides of Long Point. Five vessels are 

 constantly employed in catching them, and carrying them to the market of New York. Two 

 smacks go with them to the Boston market. Several barrels are pickled and sent to the former 

 place."* 



Lobster fisheries were carried on without restriction until the year 1812, when the citizens of 

 the town, entertaining fears that the constant encroachments of their neighbors would speedily 

 effect the extermination of the species, prevailed upon the legislature to pass an act " to prevent 

 the destruction of the lobster fishery in the town of Provincetown in the county of Barnstable, and 

 to preserve and regulate the same in the waters and shores of said town." This act provides that 

 "it shall not be lawful for any person living without the jurisdiction of this Commonwealth to take 



* A Description of Provincetown, in the County of Barnstable, September, 1802. Coll. Massachusetts Historical 

 Society, viii, 1802, pp. 198-200. 



