THE SHRIMP AND PRAWN FISHERIES. 801 



market. The lobster fishermen of Biddeford Pool, Me., and Noauk, Conn., report their capture 

 from time to time. 



NEW YORK. At the eastern end of Long Island a few shrimp (Granyon vulgaris) are taken 

 every season for home consumption and for shipment to New York City, but the industry is of 

 slight importance. The vicinity of Bay Ridge is the principal locality in which they are taken 

 for shipment to New York markets, the season lasting from the middle of March until the middle of 

 May. The amount shipped each season is about 3,000 gallons. These shrimp are cooked in brine 

 as soon as caught, and then dried. During July and August of each year about 1,000 gallons of 

 fresh shrimp are sold about Bay Ridge as bait for general hook-aud-line fishing. The average 

 price is about $2 per gallon. 



NEW YORK CITY MARKET. The New England shrimp (Crangon vulgaris) is brought to the 

 New York markets during about sixty days in the spring, from the middle of March to the middle 

 of May. The average sales per day are about 50 gallons, or 3,000 gallons for the season, which, 

 at the average market price of $1.50 per gallon, are valued at $4,500. They come mostly from 

 the vicinity of Bay Ridge, L. I., below New York City, wliere the nets are hauled every morning. 

 They are cooked in brine before being sent to market. 



. The season in New York for the larger southern shrimp or prawn (Pen<xu8),is from the 1st of 

 February to the 1st of May, after which time the weather becomes too warm to permit their 

 being shipped safely. During this season each year about 200 bushels ar brought to New York, 

 mainly from Charleston, S. C., and Savannah, Ga., in boxes holding about 1 bushel each. They 

 sell in the New York market for about $1.50 per gallon. These shrimp, like the others, are dried, 

 after being cooked in brine. 



In 1879 about 200 gallons of Penteus were sold in the Boston market, and in 1880 about 75 

 gallons; they were received through New York. 



NEW JERSEY. Shrimp are reported as abundant along most of the New Jersey coast, but as 

 yet they have given rise to no considerable industry. From a few places, however, they are 

 shipped to New York City in small quantities. The shrimping season extends more or less con- 

 tinuously from May to November. Shrimp are much used on this coast as bait for hook-and-line 

 fishing, and by many are. regarded as superior to any other kinds of bait. 



DELAWARE. A small quantity of shrimp are used in this State every year, as bait for hook 

 ami-line fishing, but there appears to be no regular source of supply, and we have not learned 

 of their being taken there for food. 



VIRGINIA. About the same can be said of the Virginia coast as of the New Jersey. Shrimp 

 are more or less abundant, but are only taken for use as bait in small quantities, or incidentally 

 in seines, while hauling for fish. The season begins in the spring and lasts until cold weather, 

 but is best in the fall. At both Norfolk and Hampton, shrimp are only rarely used as food. They 

 are reported as having been very abundant at one time in Lynnhaven Bay, but to have nearly 

 disappeared from that region now. They are but rarely seen in the waters about Hampton. 

 Prawns are the favorite bait for " rock" about Norfolk, where they vary greatly in price, according 

 to their abundance. When very abundant they are sold to fishermen at as low a price as 10 cents 

 a quart, but, when scarce, the price sometimes advances to 25 cents a dozen. 



NORTH CAROLINA. After passing the Virginia coast shrimp appear to increase in size and 

 abundance, and also to meet with much greater favor from the inhabitants. Wilmington, N. C., is 

 the most northern city of our Atlantic coast where the shrimp fishery assumes the importance of 

 an actual industry, and where shrimp are caught in sufficient quantities to merit special atten- 

 tion. 



SEC. v, VOL. ii 51 



