THE LOBSTEK FISHERY. 



793 



teeu boats with twenty-eight men engaged regularly in lobsteriug in connection with other fishing. 

 The catch is sold partly to the local trade and partly to the New York and Philadelphia markets, 

 at an average price of 4 cents a pound, netting the fishermen about 3i cents a pound. The total 

 catch for the season of 1880 was about 156,800 pounds, worth to the fishermen $5,488. 



Rumination of the lobster fisheries of New Jersey in 1860. 



Number of fishermen ... 



Number of boats 



Value of same 



Number of lobster pots . 

 Value of same 



28 

 14 



500 



$750 



Total amount of capital invested $1,0:!0 



Average gross stock to a, boat for the season . $450 



Number of barrels of bait used 314 



Value of same $157 



Total catch for 1880, in pounds 156, 800 



Value of same to the fishermen $5, 488 



DELAWARE. 



There is no lobster fishery within the limits of this State, although lobsters occur sparingly 

 about the Delaware Break water, and are occasionally captured by those who desire them for their 

 own use. One or more are sometimes hauled ashore in drag-seines or gill-nets, or are caught on 

 the hooks of the fishermen. The areas in which lobsters are said to be most abundant are those 

 resorted to by vessels for anchorage, and this would interfere with the setting of pots were 

 there any inclination to engage in fishing. At the most but a few hundred pounds of lobsters are 

 taken annually. Mr. A. T. Burbage, of Ocean View, Del., states that he has occasionally seen 

 lobsters along the beach, in the surf, near Indian River Inlet, Delaware. But rare instances of 

 the presence of lobsters south of Delaware have been noted. Two or three have, however, been 

 recorded from the northeastern corner of Virginia, and in October, 1884, the U. S. Fish Commission 

 steamer Albatross, obtained a single specimen of good size off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 

 from a depth of about 30 fathoms, by means of the beam trawl. 



STATISTICAL RECAPITULATION OP THE LOBSTER INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1880. 



Table of the lobster industry of the United States in 1880.* 



Fishery. 



* Tlir total value of the products as they enter into consumption is intended to represent the value of all the lobsters sold in 1880, as 

 they pass from the hands of the wholesale dealers, in the three largest markets of the country, Portland, Boston, and New York; from the 

 fishermen who do not supply these markets, and from the eamiei irs. The ligtires of this column and of the column of "Total amount of 

 capital invested," so far as they are made up from the "Amount of capital invested in the wholesale markets,"' and the " Knhancement in 

 vahu' in wholesale markets " are largely the result of estimates. Most of the lobster markets den,! even iimn- extensively in other kinds of 

 tish. and it has, therefore, been impossible to properly separate the lobster capital from tho fish capital. As to enhancement in value, 

 prices tluctuaU' so much that an exact average could not he determined upon. For instance, in Xew York, wholesale prices range 

 from C to LT) cents per pound, the latter price beini: demanded even during the height of the season, when tho demand and sales are 

 greatest. No account lias been taken of the lesser wholesale markets, as no returns of their sales were made by the tield agents. Of the 

 20,128,033 pounds of lobstei s taken and sold by tho fishermen, we have, then-fun-, ligured an enhancement in value only on the folio wing : 

 9,494,284 pounds used by the canneries; 8,007,654 pounds handled in Portland, Host on, and New York a total of 17,561,938 pounds ; leaving a 

 balance of over 2,500,000 pounds, which remain at tho li>ln linen's prices. It can be safely asserted, with reference to tho balance of the 

 table, that it is founded on as exact data as it was possible to collect of so scattered an industry. The cannery statistics were taken from 

 tho books of the canneries. 



