STATISTICAL REVIEW OF THE COAST FISHERIES. 
323 
IV.— FISHERIES OF THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES. 
The States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary- 
land, and Virginia have been included in this section, which has a coast 
line of about 5,400 miles, divided as follows : New York, 890 miles ; New 
Jersey, 780 miles ; Pennsylvania, 235 miles ; Delaware, 180 miles ; Mary- 
land, 2,170 miles ; Virginia, 1,145 miles. 
Three large indentations occur along this coast, which are the centers 
of fisheries of great extent; these are Princess, Delaware, and Chesa- 
peake Bays, the latter being the most prolific fishing ground of like 
proportions in the world. The fisheries of this region surpass those of 
any other section, the value of the catch exceeding that of the New 
England States by more than $2,500,000, and of the Pacific States by 
over $7,000,000. 
This division is the center of the greatest molluscan fisheries of the 
world, and it is largely owing to them that it has attained its high rank, 
although the fisheries for other aquatic products are also extensive and 
second only to those of New England. 
The characteristic vessel fisheries of the region are for bluefish and 
sea bass, carried on chiefly from Greenport, New York, and Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania; for oysters in the bays already named; for clams 
in Princess Bay; and for menhaden, this fishery being particularly im- 
portant in Long Island, in northern New Jersey, and in the Chesapeake 
Bay. 
The shore fisheries are more important than in any other section, 
those for oysters, clams, crabs, and anadromous fish being particularly 
extensive. 
The fisheries of the Middle States gave employment in 1888 to 
66,204 persons, of whom 18,228 were vessel fishermen, 35,503 shore 
fishermen, and 12,473 shoresmen, preparators, and factory hands. 
Of the capital invested, amounting to $16,028,688, $4,843,558 repre- 
sented vessels, $1,215,082 boats, $1,282,079 apparatus of capture, and 
$8,087,969 shore property and cash capital. 
The yield of the fisheries was valued at $13,749,312 at first hand, of 
which amount about three-fourths was the value of oysters and other 
mollusks. 
