752 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



CASTINE DISTRICT. 



The lobster fishery is carried on from Blue Hill, Brookliu, Deer Isle, Little Deer Island, 

 Brooksville, Castine, Swan's Island, Long Island, and Isle au Haut, in this district. Fourteen men 

 engage in lobstering at Blue Hill during the canning season, selling tLeir catch principally to the 

 Brooklin and Deer Isle canneries. They set on an average seventy pots each, and make an 

 average season's stock of $100. One-fourth of the bait consists of herring, and three fourths of 

 Bounders and sculpius. 



There are twenty-eight lobster fishermen at Brooklin, who begin setting their pots in April. 

 After June the greater number go smack fishing from other places, or coasting, and during the 

 spring and fall all dig clams. The average duration of the fishing season is six to eight weeks 

 only. One-fourth to one third of the catch by weight, and nearly one-half in value, is sold to the 

 well smacks carrying to Portland, Boston, and New York. More would be sold to these smacks, 

 but early in the spring, when the smacks obtain abundant supplies from the outer islands, they do 

 not go as far up the " Reach." The larger part of the remainder of the catch is sold to the Brook- 

 lin factory. Flounders and sculpius form the principal bait. The average number of pots used 

 by each man is one hundred and twenty-five, and the average season's stock per man about $125. 



At Deer Isle there are one hundred and forty men who fish for lobsters during the season. 

 The fishery begins at the Thoroughfare the latter part of February or about the 1st of March, but 

 in other sections about the 1st of April. Seven-eighths of the men fish until August, the re- 

 mainder dropping off from time to time after June to go boat fishing. Three-fourths of the catch 

 is sold to the canneries and one-fourth to Portland and Boston smacks. A fall fishery of two and 

 one-half months, from the middle of September to December 1st, is carried on by some of the men. 

 The average stock per man for the summer season of four months in 1880 was $200, and for the 

 fall season of two and one-half months $150. A few of the fishermen own two boats each. The 

 average number of pots to a man is seventy-five; 11,200 barrels of herring, flounders, and scul- 

 pins were used as bait in 1880. 



The lobster fishery of Little Deer Island is of limited extent, being engaged in by only eight men, 

 who set their pots during the canning season of four months. The greater part of the catch is sold 

 to the Castine cannery, but the larger lobsters are taken by the Portland, Boston, and New York 

 smacks. Outside of the lobster season the men do little beyond a small amount of farming and 

 fishing. Lobsters are caught all about the island in summer, but remain a short distance farther 

 off during the spring. The average number of pots to a man is forty-five, and the average stock 

 for the season about $60. The boats used are mainly old dories. 



There are thirteen lobstermen at Brooksville, fishing from April to August, and again from 

 October to January. They set on an average fifty pots each. The greater part of the spring and 

 summer catch is sold to the Brooklin and Castine canneries. The fall and winter catch is shipped 

 by steamer to Boston or sold to the well smacks, a small amount (about 8,000 by count) being 

 peddled up the river. 



At Castine there are four men who fish for lobsters during the canning season. They set two 

 hundred and fifty pots in all, and in 1880 used 215 barrels of flounders, sculpins, and herring 

 as bait ; they made a total catch of 12,000 lobsters, equal to 16,000 pounds. 



Seventy-four men engage in the lobster fishery at Swan's Island. Of these, fifty-one are 

 vessel fishermen, who set lobster pots only in the spring and early summer. They use on an 

 average one hundred pots each, each man also owning at least two boats, one for lobstering, the 

 other of smaller size for catching bait. Sculpins, flounders, and herring are used as bait, two- 

 thirds of the quantity consisting of sculpins. In 1879 many pots were set close inshore, upon 



