FISHERIES, BY STATES. 



233 



The vessel fisheries contributed a little more than 

 two-thirds of the total value of products, including 

 practically all of the value reported for the menhaden 

 and swordfish catches and 91 per cent of the total value 

 of the oyster product. 



Products, by apparatus of capture. In the following 

 tabular statement the value of products is distributed 

 according to apparatus of capture for all fisheries and 

 for the vessel fisheries and the shore and boat fish- 

 eries separately: 



The catch with dredges, tongs, and rakes consisted 

 of oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops, and the value 

 of the products taken in this way represented 58 per 

 cent of the total value reported for all fisheries, nearly 

 three-fourths of the total value reported for the vessel 

 fisheries, and not quite one-fourth of the total value 

 reported for the shore and boat fisheries. In the latter 

 class of fisheries the catch with pound nets, trap nets, 

 and weirs led in value, the principal species taken by 

 these apparatus being scup, squeteague, and butterfish. 



Oysters. The total oyster yield in 1908 was 1,229,000 

 bushels, with a value of $969,000, of which 1,223,000 

 bushels, valued at $967,000, were market oysters, and 

 5,500 bushels, valued at $2,500, were seed oysters. 

 All of the market oysters were from private areas, and 

 of the seed oysters 3,000 bushels were from public areas 

 and 2,500 bushels from private areas. Seven hundred 

 and twenty thousand bushels, valued at $590,000, were 

 reported as taken from Rhode Island oyster beds by 

 Connecticut fishermen. Recent canvasses have shown 

 a material increase in the market-oyster product of the 

 state, as indicated by the following tabular statement: 



Lobster. The lobster catch formed an important 

 part of the shellfish products of the state. Compara- 

 tive figures for a series of years, as given in the follow- 

 ing tabular statement, show a general increase in the 

 quantity and value of the lobster product: 



The great increase in the lobster product during 

 recent years, and especially since 1905, is due largely 

 to the work of the Rhode Island Commission of Inland 

 Fisheries, which, as a result of numerous experiments, 

 has devised a method of rearing young lobsters until 

 they become able to care for themselves, and has thus 

 made it possible to increase greatly the number of lob- 

 sters inhabiting the waters of the state. 



Scup. This was the leading fish in value, represent- 

 ing 9 per cent of the value of all fishery products and 

 29 per cent of the value of the catch of fish proper. 



The catch of scup for different years has been as fol- 

 lows: 



The figures show a decrease in quantity together 

 with an increase in value since 1905, and a large 

 increase in average value since 1898. 



Squeteague. Of the fish proper, squeteague ranked 

 second with respect to the value of the catch in 1908. 

 The statistics for the various canvasses since 1880 are 

 as follows: 



1 Not reported separately. 



The largest catch in respect to both quantity and 

 value was reported in 1905. The decrease in the catch 

 of this species shown in 1908 has been attributed to 

 the fact that, just as the squeteague were beginning 

 to run, target practice took place at Fort Greble, near 

 the mouth of Narragansett Bay. The firing of the 

 heavy guns is believed to have frightened the fish 

 away, although it has not been positively decided that 

 firing actually affects the run. 



