232 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



in quantity and value of products, and a decrease in 

 the number of persons employed. For the total 

 investment in equipment, the investment in appara- 

 tus of capture, and the value of products, the sta- 

 tistics show gains at each canvass, as compared with 

 the one preceding. The variations in quantity are due 

 chiefly to the great fluctuations in the menhaden catch, 

 which was over 112,000,000 pounds in 1889, less 

 than 1,000,000 pounds in 1902, and nearly 18,000,000 

 pounds in 1908. The total value of products, however, 

 is little affected by the catch of this low-priced fish. 



Persons employed. The distribution of the persons 

 employed in the fisheries of the state is shown in the 

 tabular statement given below. Almost one-half of 

 the total- number were employed in the shore and 

 boat fisheries. 



1 Exclusive of 24 proprietors not fishing. 



' Includes provisions furnished to the value of $34,000. 



Equipment and other capital. Statistics with respect 

 to the distribution of the equipment and other capital 

 reported for the fisheries of the state are as follows : 



Of the total capital employed in the fishing indus- 

 try, 43 per cent was invested in vessels and their out- 

 fits and boats and 15 per cent in apparatus of capture, 

 while 42 per cent represented the value of shore and 

 accessory property and the amount of cash reported. 



Exclusive of shore and accessory property and cash, 

 the investment credited to fishing and transporting 



vessels aggregated $626,000, of which 82 per cent rep- 

 resented the value of the vessels and 18 per cent the 

 value of apparatus of capture. For the shore and 

 boat fisheries the corresponding investment was 

 $251,000, of which 53 per cent represented the value 

 of boats and 47 per cent the value of apparatus of 

 capture. 



The following tabular statement shows the number 

 of the more important kinds of apparatus of capture 

 reported : 



Products, by species. Table 1, on page 234, gives the 

 weight and value of the fishery products of the state, 

 distributed by species and by apparatus of capture. 



The value of the shellfish products of the state, 

 including the squid, constituted 69 per cent of the 

 value of all fishery products. The oyster product, as 

 measured by value, was the most important in the 

 state. In quantity also, if figured at gross weight, 

 the oyster catch largely exceeded the catch of all other 

 fishery products, amounting to nearly 50,000 tons on 

 this basis. 



Products, by class of fisheries. The products of the 

 vessel fisheries are shown, by species and apparatus of 

 capture, in Table 2, on page 235, and the products of 

 the shore and boat fisheries are similarly distributed 

 in Table 3, on page 236. The following tabular state- 

 ment gives the distribution, according to species, of 

 the total value of products reported for the state and 

 for the vessel fisheries and the shore and boat fisheries, 

 respectively: 



