336 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
DELAWARE. 
All the commercial fisheries of this State are included in the tables. 
There has been little or no change in the general fisheries of Delaware 
since the census year, except in the oyster industry, in which there has 
been a remarkable decline, all the more noticeable because of the increase 
in this fishery in New Jersey, on the opposite side of Delaware Bay * 
The oyster yield in 1888 was 41,855 bushels ; in 1880 it was 300,000 
bushels, or about seven times as large. 
A limited menhaden industry has been developed in recent years ; 
two factories have been built by Connecticut capitalists at Lewes ; these 
have been supplied by four or five fishing steamers hailing from Con- 
necticut ports j their catch has necessarily been credited to the locali- 
ties where they are owned. The shore industry and the output of the 
factory are assigned to Delaware, where they properly belong. 
84. Table of persons employed. 
How engaged. 
1887. 
1888. 
On fishing vessels ..... 
76 
97 
On transporting vessels 
53 
1, 847 
131 i 
48 
1,818 
131 
On boats 
On shore — in factories, etc . 
Total 
2,107 
! 
2, 094 
85. Table of apparatus and capital. 
Designation. 
1887. 
1888. 
Humber. 
Value. 
H umber. 
Value. 
V essels fishing *... 
22 
$24, 025 
1, 117 
26 
$25,100 
1, 687 
19, 450 
590 
38, 800 
Outfit 
V essels transporting t 
17 
26, 800 
645 
17 
Outfit 
floats 
1,021 
38,495 
20 
1, 019 
Apparatus of capture — vessel fisheries : 
Seines 
1 
Dredges and tongs 
107 
2, 059 
4 
142 
2, 773 
Lines 
8 
Apparatus of capture — shore fisheries : 
Seines 
229 
12, 254 
46, 140 
750 
229 
12,101 
46, 101 
750 
Oil 1 nets . . 
1, 429 
10 
1,454 
11 
Pound nets - 
TTyke nets 
698 
1, 813 
720 
1, 864 
1,056 
228 
Lobster and eel pots 
1, 237 
76 
1,129 
221 
1,167 
Cast nets hoop nets, and dip nets 
77 
Crabbin 0- and terrapin outfits ..... 
215 
113 
217 
112 
Tongs and rakes 
145 
685 
146 
694 
Lines ............ ............. ...... 
88 
99 
TVTi seel la, neons apparatus 
58 
113 
61 
119 
Shore property faetories ete 
49, 790 
49, 980 
30, 500 
flash eapital _ _ .. 
40, 500 
Total capital 
246, 761 
232, 004 
* Tonnage in 1887, 258.44 ; in 1888, 321.84. t Tonnage in 1887, 446.35 ; in 1888, 345.29. 
* The difference in the results of the oyster fishery in the two States is ascribed to 
the varying methods of conducting the industry. In Delaware the fishermen have 
depended chiefly upon the crops from the natural beds, while in New Jersey a large 
amount of artificial planting is done each season. 
