56 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



The most common method of taking hard crabs is 

 with meat-baited lines, hand or set, and a dip net in 

 which the crab is caught when hauled to the surface. 

 Two-thirds of the soft-crab catch is taken with 

 dredges. King crabs were formerly all caught by 

 hand or with forks on the beach, but the great bulk 

 are now taken in pound nets. 



Flounders (Pleuronectidse). The family of flounders 

 is composed of the turbots, the halibuts, the plaices, and 

 probably the soles. Since the halibuts are considered 

 separately they are not here included under flounders. 



The name flounder is variously applied to the flat 

 fishes found on all the coasts of the United States, 

 and known as "American sole," "bastard halibut," 

 "Monterey halibut," "winter flounder," "starry 

 flounder," "rough limanda," "diamond flounder," 

 "long-finned sole," "sand dab," "rough dab," "Green- 

 land turbot," "pole flounder," "craig flounder," 

 "spotted sand flounder," etc. They vary in size 

 and shape, and are sold for both food and bait. The 

 catch is taken in weirs, nets, beam trawls, and seines, 

 and with hand lines and gaffs. 



The catch of flounders in 1908 was valued at 

 $588,000, and represented a little over 1 per cent of 

 the total fishery product. It was derived from the 

 fisheries of 21 states, including every coast state except 

 New Hampshire. Massachusetts, California, and New 

 York, however, reported 79 per cent of the weight 

 and 73 per cent of the value of the total, and this, 

 combined with the product of Rhode Island, New 

 Jersey, and Connecticut, represents 93 per cent of the 

 total weight and 90 per cent of the total value. The 

 statistics of the product for the more important states 

 are as follows: 



Comparative figures of the product of flounders, so far 

 as available, are given in the following tabular state- 

 ment. A marked increase appears in both the quan- 

 tity and the value of the catch in 1908, as compared 

 with earlier years. 



1 Exclusive of the product of the Pacific coast states. 



Flounders were caught with a variety of apparatus 

 of capture, and the quantity and value of the catch 

 taken with the different kinds of apparatus are given 

 in the following tabular statement: 



1 Less than 1 per cent. 



Haddock ( Melanogrammus seglifinus) . The haddock 

 is a food fish found in the Atlantic Ocean north of the 

 Delaware capes; it is called "dickie" in some localities. 

 The average weight is from, 4 to 6 pounds. It is exten- 

 sively used as a fresh food fish, and is also salted, 

 pickled, and dried. When slack-salted and smoked it 

 is sold under the name of "haddie." 



The catch in 1908, valued at $1,308,000, represented 

 2 per cent of the total value of the fishery products 

 of the United States and 4 per cent of the value of the 

 food fish. In the product from the Atlantic coast this 

 fish ranked seventh with respect to value, and repre- 

 sented 4 per cent of the total value.- The catch was 

 sold fresh, with the exception of 1,042,000 pounds, 

 valued at $22,000, which were salted. The first 

 tabular statement following gives the statistics of the 

 weight and value of the haddock catch, by states. 



The value of the catch of haddock in 1908 exceeded 

 that of any year for which statistics are available, but 

 the quantity was less than in 1904-5. Comparative 

 figures are given in the second tabular statement 

 following for 1908 and earlier years. 



