756 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



engage in boat-nshiug. Two-thirds of the catch in value is sold to the Portland and Boston well 

 smacks, and the remainder to the Camden and Castine canneries and the local trade. Forty-eight 

 thousand pounds of fresh lobsters are sold annually for food in the neighboring regions. 



ISLEBOEO'. Thirty two men engage in lobstering from Islesboro' from April 1 to August 1, 

 setting an average of sixty pots each and stocking on an average $80 for the season. Thirteen 

 of these lobstermen go boat fishing after July, principally in the vicinity of Matinicus Island, at 

 which place they camp out during the fishing season. Most of the bait employed consists of 

 flounders and sculpins, but a few herring are also used. The boats are all small, and are valued 

 at about $10 each. The men go singly, and all farm a little for their own use. One-half of the 

 catch in value is sold to the well smacks and one-half to the canneries and local trade. 



NORTH HAVEN, &c. The lobstermen of the fishing area including North Haven, Eagle, Bear, 

 Spruce Head, and Beach Islands, belong mainly at North Haven and live along the coves, har- 

 bors, and inlets which indent its shores ; but a few are also located on each of the smaller islands. 

 They fish for lobsters a part of each day only, working on their farms the remainder of the time. 

 Those who have the most to do on shore set but a limited number of pots, which can be hauled in 

 the few hours of early morning ; but others, who do less farming, work with a larger number of pots, 

 and devote much more time to tending.them, and -to collecting bait. The methods of fishing are 

 similar to those employed at Vinal Haven, and the fishing season is about the same, beginning, 

 possibly, a little later or about the first week of April. About the middle of June many stop 

 lobstering in order to fish for hake, and from that time until the middle of July they are con- 

 stantly dropping off, one or two at a time, to engage in the other fisheries. Before the close of 

 the summer season (August 1) not more than one-third of the original number are still fishing for 

 lobsters. 



Prior to 1879 nearly all the lobstermen of this region engaged in the fall lobster fishery, which 

 continued until about November 20, this season being considered the best of the year, as farm 

 labors are then done with and the men can devote themselves more fully to fishing than in the spring. 

 The presence of mackerel in 1879, until well into October, greatly interfered, however, with the 

 fall lobster fishery of that year. There is no winter fishery for lobsters. When herring are abun- 

 dant it is customary for some of the lobstermen to set several herring nets and take the fish from 

 them before hauling their pots. Likewise in the fall it has generally been the custom, whenever 

 schools of mackerel appear, to haul the lobster pots in the morning and fish for mackerel the latter 

 part of the day. 



Lobsters are found in all the waters surrounding these islands, but are somewhat more 

 abundant about the smaller islands and dry ledges to the southwest of Long Island (Islesboro'); 

 consequently very many of the fishermen set their pots in these localities, using sail boats 

 when there is a breeze and row boats when it is calm. In the early spring (March), the pots 

 are usually set in depths of 14 to 20 fathoms, but as the season advances they are gradually 

 shifted in, until, by the first or middle of May, they are placed in from 3 to 6 fathoms. The 

 bait consists principally of flounders and sculpins, but salt herring, fish heads, and ham fats, are 

 sometimes put to the same use. The heads and livers of sheep have also sometimes been 

 employed. 



Eighty-nine men engaged in the lobster fishery in this section in 1880, setting on an average 

 about sixty pots each. The monthly stock per man in the spring and summer ranged from 

 $20 to $30, but in the fall it advanced to an average of $45 per month. Mr. Nathaniel D. 

 Wooster, of North Haven, states that the average daily catch to a trap at present is about 



