TWELFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 17 
at $95,000 to the fishermen. The value of the canned products 
was $238,000, an enhancement in value by the process of canning 
of $143,000. Seventeen provincial canneries are owned by 
Americans, as follows: One each in New Foundland, the Mag- 
dalen Islands, and Prince Edward Island, three in New Bruns- 
wick, and eleven in Nova Scotia. The total amount of capital 
invested in 1880 was $213,000; 10,000,000 pounds of fresh lobsters 
were consumed that year, and the value of the canned products 
was $246,000. These products are all exported to Europe and 
other foreign countries, none passing into the United States. 
“The total catch of lobsters on the Maine coast for 1880 
amounted to 14,234,000 pounds, valued at $268,000, first-cost, or 
fishermen’s prices. The catch for Massachusetts was 4,315,000 
pounds, valued at $158,o00, and that of the entire coast of the 
several lobster States was 20,128,000 pounds, worth $483,000, 
first price. The quantity of lobsters handled by the several 
large fresh markets during 1880 was as follows: Portland, 
2,000,000 pounds; Boston, 3,637,000 pounds; New York, 2,500,000 
pounds; a total of 8,137,000 pounds. The enhancement in value 
of these lobsters in passing through the large markets was 
$105,000, making the total value of the lobster products, as they 
entered the hands of the smaller wholesale and the retail 
dealers, $732,000. The prices received by the fishermen for lob- 
sters vary greatly, according to their size and the season. Can- 
ning lobsters, which average about one pound each, bring about 
one cent per pound, but those above ten inches in length are 
worth from four to seven cents each. 
‘Legislation relative to the lobster fishery is entirely under 
the control of the several interested States, all of which excepting 
New Jersey, have passed protective laws. The Maine law is the 
most lax of all) permitting the capture and sale of lobsters of 
any size between the rst of April and the rst of August, and of 
lobsters above 10% inches in length the balance of the year. The 
remaining State laws prohibit the taking of lobsters at any 
season below acertain size (ranging from 8 to 1o inches), and 
make other restrictions as to a close time, etc. 
“The propagation of the American lobster by artificial means 
has been attempted, but so far without much success. Unsuc- 
