254 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



of the vessel and the shore and boat fisheries of the 

 Chesapeake Bay district, while corresponding statis- 

 tics for the Atlantic Ocean district are given in Tables 

 6 and 9, on pages 259 and 262. The following tabular 

 statement gives the distribution, by district and class of 

 fisheries, of the total quantity and value of products 

 reported for the state : 



1 Less than 1 per cent. 



In both classes of fisheries of the Chesapeake Bay 

 district, oysters contributed the largest value, though 

 nine-tenths of the weight of the product taken in the 

 vessel fisheries consisted of menhaden. More than 

 90 per cent of the shad product of Virginia was caught 

 in the shore and boat fisheries of Chesapeake Bay and 

 its tributaries. 



The only products of the vessel fisheries of the 

 Atlantic Ocean district were oysters, clams, bluefish, 

 sea bass, squeteague, and scup. 



Products, by apparatus of capture. The following 

 tabular statement distributes, by apparatus of capture 

 arranged in the order of the value of the catch, the 

 total value of products reported for the state as a 

 whole and for each district : 



The catch made with dredges, tongs, and rakes, 

 representing mainly the yield of oysters, but also that 

 of clams and crabs, contributed a larger percentage of 

 the value of the products than the catch made with 

 any other class of apparatus. The value of the prod- 

 ucts taken in pound and trap nets made this class of 

 apparatus second in importance, these nets being used 



extensively in both the Atlantic Ocean district and the 

 Chesapeake Bay district, and in the capture of nearly 

 all the species of fish reported. They were employed 

 especially in taking shad and herring, and contributed 

 one-fifth of the total value of the products of the shore 

 and boat fisheries. Seines ranked third in the value 

 of products taken. They were used mostly in the 

 vessel fisheries, 80 per cent of the total value of prod- 

 ucts reported for them being credited to thia class of 

 fisheries. Gill nets and lines were used .very little in 

 the vessel fisheries, while fyke and hoop nets were used 

 only in the shore and boat fisheries. Dip nets were 

 employed only in the shore and boat fisheries of Chesa- 

 peake Bay. The greater part of the value of the catch 

 made by means of dip nets represents the value of soft 

 crabs caught, while hard crabs contributed most of the 

 value of the catch by lines. 



Oysters. In 1908 the total yield of oysters from Vir- 

 ginia beds was 5,075,000 bushels, valued at $2,348,000, 

 or about 50 per cent of the value of all the fishery prod- 

 ucts of the state. The product was distributed by 

 kind and area, as follows: 



The oyster product comprised 3,672,000 bushels of 

 market oysters, valued at $1,967,000, and 1,403,000 

 bushels of seed oysters, valued at $381,000. All the 

 seed oysters reported, with the exception of 81,000 

 bushels, were taken from public areas, while 63 per 

 cent of the market oysters were from private areas. 



The cultivation of oysters has become an important 

 part of the oyster industry of Virginia. Public reefs 

 have become yearly less productive, and there has been 

 a tendency to enlarge the area available for private 

 beds. As yet the cultivated oysters of Virginia have 

 not brought as high a price per bushel as those from 

 New York and Connecticut, although the natural con- 

 ditions of the Virginia waters are ideal for cultivation 

 and the state laws afford fairly good protection to 

 private oyster culture. 



Though the value of oysters from private areas 

 formed 57 per cent of the total value of the oyster 

 product, the quantity from these areas was less than 

 that from public areas. The average price of market 

 oysters per bushel was 57 cents for those from private 



