FISHERIES OF THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES. 223 



to the resources of the clam and oyster fisheries. The coast from Sandy 

 Hook to Cape May lying directly on the Atlantic Ocean has long been 

 noted for its pound-net and handrline fisheries. The shallow bays 

 throughout the part of this region from Bay Head southward, inclosed 

 from the ocean by a series of sandy islands or bars, are also very 

 productive in oysters, clams, and various species of fish. 



The west side of the State is also highly favored in point of fishery 

 resources, its entire length being traversed by the Delaware RiVer and 

 Bay. The three most important fisheries prosecuted in these waters 

 are the shad, sturgeon, and oyster. The total yield of the river and 

 bay for these three fisheries in 1897, as near as can be approximated, 

 was 14,727,296 pounds of shad, valued at $378,476; 2,428,616 pounds 

 of sturgeon (1,058,666 pounds after being dressed), having a value, 

 including caviar, of $124,440, and 2,475,860 bushels of oysters, valued 

 at $1,118,650; a total value of $1,621,566. The part of this output 

 taken by the fishermen of New Jersey was 11,554,307 pounds of shad, 

 valued at $285,125; 1,951,421 pounds of sturgeon, or 772,349 pounds 

 after being dressed, valued, including the caviar, at $89,430, and 

 2,046,156 bushels of oysters', valued at $910,779; a total value of 

 $1,285,334, or 79 per cent of the total value of the products of 

 these three fisheries, the remainder being credited to Pennsylvania 

 and Delaware. In 1898 the quantity of shad taken from this river 

 and bay by New Jersey fishermen was. 11,433,634 pounds, valued at 

 $241,374; of sturgeon, 1,298,315 pounds, or about 513,847 pounds after 

 being dressed, valued, including caviar, at $96,236, and of oysters about 

 1,535,397 bushels, valued at $947,638; a total value of $1,285,248. 



Statistics of Pennsylvania and'Delaware not being obtained for 1898, 

 the proportion of the three leading products of the Delaware River 

 and Bay taken by New Jersey in that year can not be shown, but the 

 foregoing are sufficient to illustrate how largely this State is interested 

 in the- fisheries of the two important rivers, the Delaware and the 

 Hudson, which separate it from adjacent States. 



GENERAL STATISTICS. 



In all important respects the fisheries of New Jersey in 1897 and 

 1898 show an increase over former years, except that the products, 

 while greater in quantity, were less in value than in 1892. There has 

 been an increase over each of the years from J 889 to 1892 in the num- 

 ber of persons and vessels employed, the value of fishing apparatus, 

 and, with the exception noted, in the quantity and value of the products. 



In 1897 the number of persons engaged in the fisheries of the State 

 was 12,494. Of these, 2,484 were employed on vessels fishing and 

 transporting fishery products, 9,400 in the shore or boat fisheries, and 

 610 in factories and other branches of shore industry connected with 

 the fisheries. 



