FISHERIES, BY STATES. 



191 



value of products by species and by class of fisheries, 

 only those products for which a value in excess of 

 $10,000 was reported being shown separately: 



i Less than $100. 



Products, by apparatus of capture. The following 

 tabular statement shows, for each class of fisheries, the 

 distribution by apparatus of capture of the total value 

 of products for the state, only those forms of appa- 

 ratus which took products having a value in excess of 

 $10,000 being shown separately. 



Dredges, tongs, etc., pound and trap nets, lines, 

 gill nets, and seines, ranking with respect to the value 

 of the product taken by them hi the order named, were 

 employed in taking fishery products representing 98 

 per cent of the total value of the product of the state. 



Dredges, tongs, etc., show a catch far in excess of 

 that of other apparatus. The product taken by these 

 implements in the vessel fisheries was nearly three 

 times as heavy as that taken in the shore and boat 

 fisheries, but less than twice as valuable. 



The catch with pound and trap nets included a large 

 number of species. Over one-half of the value of their 

 catch represented the value of squeteague taken. But- 

 terfish, silver hake, menhaden, and whiting were other 



important species in the pound and trap net catch. 

 Of the value of the line catch, more than two-thirds 

 represented the value of sea bass and cod. A little 

 over two-fifths of the product taken with lines was 

 reported for vessel fisheries and almost three-fifths for 

 shore and boat fisheries. In the former class of fish- 

 eries cod was the leading species with respect to value, 

 and sea bass was second in rank, the two together con- 

 tributing 3,376,000 pounds, valued at $128,000, out of 

 the total line catch of 3,576,000 pounds, valued at 

 $137,000. Of the line catch of the shore and boat fish- 

 eries, which aggregated 4,806,000 pounds and was 

 valued at -1196,000, sea bass contributed 1,944,000 

 pounds, valued at $76,000, and bluefish 808,000 

 pounds, valued at $44,000, while the large remainder 

 included a number of species. 



Gill nets were used chiefly in the shore and boat 

 fisheries. Much more than half of the catch by these 

 nets consisted of shad. 



The value of the catch by seines was less than that 

 of the product taken by any other of the five forms of 

 apparatus discussed. Products taken by seines were 

 reported for both the shore and boat fisheries and the 

 vessel fisheries, 2,582,000 pounds, valued at $65,000, 

 being credited to the former and 7,067,000 pounds, 

 valued at $44,000, to the latter. In the shore and 

 boat fisheries, the products of greatest value taken by 

 seines were shad, squeteague, and alewives. Of the 

 seine catch reported for the vessel fisheries, menhaden 

 contributed 5,884,000 pounds, or 83 per cent. 



Oysters. Oysters were the chief fishery product in 

 New Jersey, as in most of the Middle and South 

 Atlantic states. The total quantity taken in this 

 state was 2,586,000 bushels, the value of which, 

 $1,369,000, represents 45 per cent of the value of all 

 the fishery products of New Jersey. This ratio, how- 

 ever, was less than that of former years, as shown by 

 the following tabular statement : 



Nearly two-thirds of the oyster product in 1908, or 

 1,667,000 bushels, consisted of seed oysters, but the 

 value of these, $485,000, was only a little more than 

 one-third of the value of the entire oyster yield. Of 

 the seed oysters, 772,000 bushels, valued at $236,000, 

 came from public areas, and 895,000 bushels, valued 

 at $248,000, from private areas. There has been a 

 marked growth since 1904 in the seed-oyster product 

 from private areas. In that year the yield of seed 



