176 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
the years 1887, 1888, and 1889. Special studies were also made of such 
important branches as the sardine industry, the smoked-herring indus- 
try, the lobster-canning industry, the canning of clams and other prod- 
ucts, the menhaden industry, the oyster-packing industry, the prepara- 
tion of clam bait, and the frozen-herring trade. In connection with this 
investigation a careful study was conducted in Boston and Gloucester, 
with a view to ascertain the extent of the wholesale trades in fresh fish, 
salt fish, smoked fish, lobsters, oysters, and other fishery products, 
which constitute such a prominent feature of the industrial life of those 
cities. The manufacture of glue, isinglass, and fish fertilizer, the trade 
in ice and salt consumed in the fisheries, the making of boxes for the 
packing of fish, the preparation of boneless fish, and various other 
phases of the fishing industry were also considered. Several special 
papers based on these inquiries, now in course of preparation, and a 
detailed report on the entire subject which will soon be issued, preclude 
the necessity for more than a general reference at this time to the results 
of the canvass. 
The following summary gives the extent and condition of the fisheries 
in 1889 as determined by the inquiry: The number of persons engaged 
in the fisheries of the region was 36,536, of whom 15,122 were vessel fish- 
ermen, 12,295 shore fishermen, and 9,119 shoresmen. Of the 1,542 ves- 
sels employed, 1,440 were actually used in fishing, and 102 were engaged 
in the transportation of fishery products; the tonnage of the fleet was 
79,735.49, and the value of the vessels and their outfits was $6,382,006. 
The fleet. consisted of 1,206 schooners, 171 sloops, 88 steamers, 38 barks, 
30 cat-rigged vessels, 5 ships, and 4 brigs. The boats used in the shore 
fisheries numbered 11,561, and had a value of $657,010. The apparatus 
fished consisted of 1,178 pound nets, trap nets, and weirs, 540 seines, 
9,591 gill nets, 280 bag nets, 965 fyke nets, and 175,458 pots, which, 
together with other miscellaneous apparatus, had a value of $1,681,575. 
The shore and accessory property devoted to the fisheries was valued 
ab $5,850,979, and the cash capital required to maintain the industry 
Was $5,523,224. The aggregate investment was $20,094,794. The 
products taken weighed 653,170,040 pounds, for which the fishermen - 
received $10,550,641. The gross return on the investment was, there- 
fore, about 50 per cent. The most important single species is the cod, 
of which 97,145,645 pounds, valued at $2,549,757, were marketed. The 
fish taken in largest quantities is the menhaden, the catch of which 
Was 175,652,210 pounds, equivalent to about 300,000,000 fish, but the 
value of this enormous yield was only $428,228. After the cod, in point 
of value, come oysters, worth $1,393,284; lobsters, worth $833,736; 
whale products, worth $828,463; haddock, worth $738,732; mackerel 
worth $731,424; and halibut, worth $725,756. 
The New England fisheries have always been more important than 
those of any other section of the United States, and the inquiry shows 
that this precedence is still maintained, notwithstanding a very serious 
