352 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
in the vessel fisheries; 8,799 were classed as shore fishermen, and 1,336 
were shoresmen, factory hands, etc. Of the capital invested, $116,660 
was in vessels, $220,224 in boats, $343,159 in apparatus of capture, 
and $393,846 in shore property and cash capital. The fishery products 
of the region had a value to the fishermen of $1,196,892, of which the 
general shore fisheries represented the major portion, followed by the 
oyster and crustacean fisheries. 
NORTH CAROLINA. 
The statistics for this State cover the coast fisheries proper and the 
river fisheries to head of tide water, this being practically to the limit 
of commercial fishing, except in the case of the Roauoke River, which 
was canvassed to a distance of 30 miles from its mouth. 
Comparing the results of the census of 1880 with^the figures for 1888, 
we find a material increase in the persons employed and capital invested, 
the former being 46 per cent., while the capital had increased 58 per 
cent. The value of the catch, however, as obtained in 1888, was 8 per 
cent, less than in 1880, though the yield itself was enormously greater — 
43,022,854 pounds in 1888 against 32,249,488 pounds in 1880. This in- 
crease, however, is largely menhaden, a cheap product that was not 
taken in 1880, the fishery having been established since then. 
The following are some of the most remarkable changes that have 
occurred since the census year : 
There has been a large increase in the pound-net fishery. In 1880 
only 117 pound nets, worth $30,800, were reported, while in 1888 there 
were 797, with a total value of $68,463, and the catch amounted to 
7,898,075 pounds of fish, with a first value of $112,877. 
The change in the gill-net fishery has been phenomenal. In the 
census year only 18,796 gill nets were used ; in 1888 the number had 
reached 61,630. 
There has been a gratifying improvement in the yield of the general 
food-fish fisheries with few exceptions. The output of shad, in which 
this State ranks among the first, increased from 3,221,263 pounds in 1880 
to 5,630,709 pounds in 1888. The catch of mullet has declined almost 
50 per cent. There has also been a slight decrease in the oyster fishery. 
The porpoise fishery has been established since 1880; in 1888 it 
amounted to $16,125. 
112. Table of persona employed. 
How engaged. 
1887. 
1888. 
On fishinor vp.ssfils .............. 
172 
150 
On transporting vessels. . .................. 
140 
138 
On boats * . ............ ................................. 
5,931 
1,109 
6,315 
1, 101 
On shoro in faetories fish-Tinnses et,n 
Total . . .. 
7,352 
7,704 
* 1, 25C of these, each year, were semi-professionals. 
