92 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



The number, salaries, and wages of the persons 

 employed in the fisheries of the state in 1908 were as 

 follows : 



PERSONS EMPLOYED: 1908. 



1 Exclusive of 24 proprietors not fishing. 



* Includes provisions furnished to the value of $69,000. 



Equipment and other capital. The following tabular 

 statement gives the description and value of vessels 

 and boats, together with the value of apparatus of cap- 

 ture, and the amount of other capital employed for the 

 year 1908: 



The investment in floating craft and apparatus of 

 capture was $1,196,000, or 52 per cent of the total 

 capital invested, as compared with $1,086,000, or 48 

 per cent, reported for shore and accessory property 

 and cash capital. 



The preeminence of the vessel fisheries is indicated 

 by the high value of the vessels engaged in fishing 

 and transporting. Of the total investment in 1908, 

 $994,000 represents the investment in fishing and 

 transporting vessels with their outfit, and $118,000 

 represents the investment in boats with their outfit. 



Including apparatus of capture, the investments were 

 $1,029,000 for vessel fisheries and $167,000 for shore 

 and boat fisheries. 



The number of vessels reported as engaged in fishing 

 and transporting in 1908 was 243, which is greater 

 by 49 than the total number reported for 1902. There 

 was a corresponding difference in the value of vessels 

 and their outfit for the two years named, the value in 

 1908 being greater by $367,000 than in 1902. 



The investment in apparatus of capture for the shore 

 and boat fisheries exceeded that for the vessel fisheries 

 in 1908, although, as already shown, the capital in- 

 vested in floating craft and apparatus of capture to- 

 gether was much greater for the vessel fisheries than 

 for the shore and boat fisheries. 



The various kinds of apparatus used were distributed 

 between the vessel fisheries and the shore and boat 

 fisheries as follows: 



Products, by species.- The fishery products of the 

 state are given, by species and by apparatus of capture, 

 in Table 1, on page 94. 



A comparison with the statistics for former years 

 shows, in general, an increase in the total of fishery 

 products, due chiefly to the growth of the oyster indus- 

 try. Oysters, menhaden, and lobsters, shown sepa- 

 rately in the table below, were the only products with 

 a value forming more than 1 per cent of the total value 

 of all fishery products in 1908. 



Products, T)y class of fisheries. Table 2, page 95, 

 shows in detail the products of the shore and boat 

 fisheries, and Table 3, page 96, those of the vessel 

 fisheries, by species and by apparatus of capture. 



The value of the product for 1908 of the species 

 showing a value of more than $10,000 is given in the 

 tabular statement following for all fisheries, and for 

 the vessel fisheries and the shore and boat fisheries 

 separately. 



