FISHERIES OF THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES. 297 



NOTES ON THE PRINCIPAL FISHERIES. 



The principal fisheries are the oyster, the pound-net, the menhaden 

 purse-seine, and the shad gill-net fisheries. The oyster yield in 1897 

 was valued at 12,041,683; the product of the pound nets, $513,589; the 

 menhaden purse-seine fishery, $242,300, and the shad gill-net fisheries 

 in the rivers, $81,171. Of minor consequence was the haul seine fish- 

 er}^, with a value of $68,260, the crab fisheries, yielding products to the 

 value of $68,245, and the clam fisheries, with products worth $66,097. 

 The value of the yield of the minor fisheries in the same j^ear was 

 $98,153, making the total yield of the fishery products in Virginia 

 during 1897 worth $3,179,498. 



The oyster industry is the principal fishery in Virginia and shows a 

 gratifying increase so far as concerns the quantity over any previous 

 year for which records are available. In 1880 the product was 6,837,- 

 240 bushels, for which the fishermen received $2,218,376; in 1888 it 

 was 3,664,433 bushels, worth $1,336,012; in 1891, 6,074,025 bushels, 

 worth $2,524,348, and in 1897 7,023,848 bushels, valued at $2,041,683. 

 During the last year this industry gave emploj^ment to 18,189 fisher- 

 men, or 75 per cent of the total number in the State, using 1,022 ves- 

 •sels, valued, with their outfits, at $662,242; 7,682 boats, worth $416,018, 

 and dredges, tongs, etc., worth $73,755. This shows some increase 

 over 1891, when the fishermen and transporters numbered 16,343; 919 

 vessels, worth $786,626; 6,974 boats, worth $412,030, and dredges, 

 tongs, etc., worth $57,872. 



The general condition of the oyster industry of Virginia has changed 

 considerably during the past ten years. The public reefs are growing 

 less productive year after year and the extent of the planting business 

 is constantly increasing. The State laws afford fairl}^ good protection 

 to private oyster-culture, and the prospects are exceedingh^ favorable 

 for a large development in that line in the near future. 



The pound-net fishery of Virginia is the most extensive and concen- 

 trated in America. The increase in this fishery during the past twenty 

 years has been phenomenal. Within an area 70 miles long and 10 

 miles wide, covering the western side of Chesapeake Bay and the 

 mouths of the tributaries thereof, there are set each spring over 850 

 pound nets, worth about $200,000. In addition, there are about 100 

 on the eastern shore of Virginia and about 300 in the various rivers 

 at a greater distance than 10 miles from the Chesapeake. In 1897 the 

 number of pound nets in the State aggregated 1,250, worth $264,600, 

 against 891 in 1891, valued at $165,990. In 1880 the number of pound 

 nets was but 152, worth $89,240, and in 1887 it was reported at 608, 

 worth $164,355. The catch by the pound nets in 1891 amounted to 

 23,796,835 pounds, which sold for $471,560, whereas in 1897 it was 

 37,467,620 pounds, worth $513,589. The principal increase occurred in 

 the yield of shad, from 3,645,467 pounds in 1891 to 8,035,114 pounds 



