ZOOLOGICAL, SOCIELY BULL LIN 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
Departinents : 
Mammals Aquarium 
W. T. Horyapay. C. H. TownsEND. 
Birds Reptiles 
LEE S. CRANDALL. Raymonp L. Dirmars 
WuttiaM BEEreE. Honorary Curator, Birds 
Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society, 
111 Broadway, New York City. 
Yearly by Mail, $1.00. 
MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS. 
Copyright, 1920, by the New York Zoological Society. 
Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy 
and the proof reading of his contribution. 
Etwin R. Sanzsorn, Editor 
Vor. XXIII, No. 6 
NovemsBer, 1920 
the boats begin slipping out from the mouth of 
the creek. They head directly for their nets, 
and on coming close run up on the lee or off tide 
side of the “pocket.” If no net is to be reset, 
a corner of the “pocket” is at once lowered, 
and the boat pulled into the enclosure, a large 
oar and boathook being used to clear the rudder 
and propeller. After this it is hauled up by the 
man in the skiff and made secure. The funnel is 
then hauled up, closing the bag completely. The 
bottom of the bag is then pulled up gradually, 
partly hauled on board and then dropped over 
the side so as to pull the boat across the net and 
confine the fish in an always decreasing space. 
As soon as this has become sufficiently small to 
make their handling easy, the net is hooked into 
pegs inside the gunwale of the boat, and the 
large scoop net brought into action. This is 
operated from the gaff, one man hoisting while 
another, holding it by the handle, directs and 
dumps it. When the net has been emptied the 
boat is taken out of a lowered corner as before, 
and the net again hoisted into place. A catch of 
eighty to one hundred bushels, while not ex- 
traordinary, is considered a good fare, but the 
average would seem to be nearer fifteen from 
each net. Menhaden, of course, are caught in 
great numbers, and when running strong are first 
sorted out from the food fish. As each net is 
hauled, the Seabright skiffs of the lobstermen 
gather about it to purchase bait. This is sold to 
them at twenty-five to forty cents a bushel de- 
pending upon its abundance. Any excess men- 
haden is taken to the fish factory at Belford, 
where the same prices prevail. 
During the current year 500,000 bushels of 
fish were ground for oil and scrap, of which 
approximately 312,500 bushels were brought in 
by the pound fishermen. When the catch of 
food fish is sufficiently large to warrant it, the 
boat is run with its load directly to Fulton 
Market, New York. As a usual thing, however, 
125 
the catch is taken to the market boat, which lies 
at the mouth of the creek. The fish are packed 
in large boxes and covered with chipped ice. 
The charge for transporting to New York is 
twenty-five cents a bushel, the fishermen sup- 
plying their own ice. Due to the great demand 
for fish on Friday, an effort is made to haul the 
nets on that day, no matter how the weather 
may be. The next haul is made on Monday, as 
there is no sale of fish over the week-end. 
\t present there are forty nets in actual oper- 
ation. These belong to seventeen men, all of 
whom, with but two exceptions, hail from Bel- 
ford. According to last year’s reports, the value 
of the nets ran from $700 to $11,500, the total 
value for all employed being $78,703. Righty- 
five men and seventeen boats were employed, not 
counting some men whose duties were confined to 
mending nets ashore, and 12,070,444 pounds of 
marketable fish were caught during the season of 
1919, which brought $147,246.61 in the market. 
Individual sales for the year ran from $1,000 
to $17,000, the average being about $9,500 for 
each of the seventeen men owning pounds. ‘This 
does not represent all the assets, since the sale 
of menhaden must be reckoned in, but on the 
other hand it is far from being pure profit. 
Wages, wear and tear, repair and replacements, 
taxes and licenses, all cut into the actual money 
received for the sale of fish. Then also at best it 
is a very uncertain game, since the ways of the 
fish migrations are far beyond human ken. Dur- 
ing 1919 and 1920 there has been a tremendous 
run of menhaden, while for several years pre- 
vious almost none were taken in the Bay. Blue- 
fish, on the other hand, have been very scarce 
this year, as have most food fishes. 
In April the first run of fishes consists mainly 
of shad. later weakfish, spot, croakers, various 
Hounders, and bluefish. Besides these. a large 
variety of fish are caught, some edible but many 
of interest chiefly to the aquarium collector. 
The nets catch considerable numbers of sharks. 
dogfish, scup, skates, puffers, sea robins, and 
such “trash,” which, while cherished by the col- 
lector, is thrown overboard by the fisherman or 
sold at low rates to the Italians and others less 
finicky of taste. Some of the sharks formerly 
rejected now have a considerable market value 
as food fishes. It is surprising to find how many 
tropical and semi-tropical fishes wander north 
in summer. Since Long Island forms the north- 
ern limit of many kinds, the Lower Bay is natur- 
ally well situated for the procuring of these 
southern stragglers. 
The Aquarium is indebted to the kindness of 
the pound fishermen for over a thousand excel- 
lent specimens from local waters. 
