288 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
17. Table showing the extent of the frozen-herring trade with the British Provinces in 1888, 
as carried on bg American fishing vessels. 
[This table does not include the fish brought into United States territory over regular steamship 
lines, nor the trade maintained between various ports in the New England and Middle States.] 
Vessels. 
Number of herring 
transported. 
Where obtained. 
Number. 
Net tonnage. 
Value. 
Maine. 
Massa- 
chusetts. 
Maine. 
Massa- 
chusetts. 
Maine. 
Massa- 
chusetts. 
Maine. 
Massa- 
chusetts. 
New Brunswick 
4 
10 
129. 34 
645. 29 
$9, 800 
1,400 
$29, 532 
1, 282, 000 
380, 000 
*2, 677, 000 
Nova Scotia . . 
1 
58.09 
Newfoundland 
38 
3, 347. 63 
218, 026 
12, 927, 000 
Total 
* 5 
48 
187.43 
3, 992. 92 
11, 200 
247, 558 
1,662,000 
15, 004, 000 
‘Including 150,000 fish from New Brunswick landed by vessels that also went to Newfoundland and 
got most of their cargo there. 
MAINE. 
The data here presented cover all the coast fisheries of Maine, includ- 
ing the rivers, which were canvassed as high as fishing was prosecuted 
upon a commercial basis. Thus, the St. Croix was investigated to Calais, 
the Penobscot to Bangor, the Sheepscot to Wiscasset, and the Kennebec 
to Woolwich. 
In the matter of persons employed, the returns for Maine show an 
increase over 1880 of 4,252 in 1887 and 4,100 in 1888. There has been 
a small decrease in the capital invested and in the extent and value of 
the vessel fisheries. There has been a marked decline in the number 
of vessels, but the value of the fishing fleet has not materially changed, 
owing to the increase in the size and cost of the vessels. The general 
fisheries, as a rule, were quite as profitable in 1887 and 1888 as in 1880. 
Some branches were notably prosperous, including the lobster fishery, 
the pound-net and weir fishery, and the sardine industry ; but the mack- 
erel fishery was a marked failure as compared with previous years, and 
the meager results obtained from it niacle the general summation for the 
year much smaller than it otherwise might have been. 
18. Table of persons employed. 
How engaged. 
On fishing vessels 
On transporting vessels 
On transporting boats 
In shore fisheries * 
On shore, in canneries, factories, etc 
1887. 
1888. 
3, 293 
2, 878 
76 
103 
143 
149 
6, 089 
6,140 
5, 722 
5, 901 
15, 323 
15, 171 
Including 2,615 semi-professionals ip 1887, and 2,556 in 1888. 
