STATISTICS OF THE FISHERIES OF THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. 



GENERAL NOTES AND STATISTICS. 



The New England States having coast fisheries are Maine, New 

 Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The num- 

 ber of persons engaged in the fisheries of these States in 1898 was 

 35", 631. Of this number 22,367 were fishermen and 13,264 were shores- 

 men employed in the various shore industries directly connected with 

 the fisheries. Maine and Massachusetts maintain extensive fisheries, 

 but the industry is considerably smaller in the other three States. 

 Maine employed in its fisheries 16,954 persons, Massachusetts 14,363, 

 New Hampshire only 154, Rhode Island 1,687, and Connecticut 2,473. 

 Since the last general canvass of these States in 1889 there has been 

 I decrease of 905 in the number of persons employed. In Maine there 

 NSiS an increase of 2,825 persons, while a decrease occurred in all of 

 the other States, the largest number being 2,875 in Massachusetts, and 

 the largest percentage, 57.80 per cent, in New Hampshire. 



The amount of capital invested in the fisheries was $19,637,036. The 

 investment in Maine was $4,013,053; in New Hampshire, $52,648; in 

 Massachusetts, $13,372,902; in Rhode Island, $957,142; and in Con- 

 necticut, $1,241,291. As compared with 1889 the capital invested has 

 decreased $457,758. There has been an increase in Maine of $1,123,160 

 and in Massachusetts of $127,673. In New Hampshire there was a 

 decrease of $60,012, in Rhode Island of $63,036, and in Connecticut of 

 $1,585,543. The decrease in Connecticut is due chiefly to the fact that 

 the value of the oyster-grounds, included in 1889, was omitted in 1898, 

 the actual decrease in the investment being about $282,818. 



The number of fishing and transporting vessels employed in the fish- 

 eries was 1,427, having a net tonnage of 43,821 tons, and a value of 

 $2,920,825. The value of their outfits was $1,303,514. There has 

 been a slight decrease since 1889 in the number of vessels and a large 

 decrease in the tonnage. The vessels have increased in number in Maine, 

 Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, but have decreased in the other States. 

 The decrease in the total tonnage is due chiefly to many of the larger 

 fishing vessels being sold for use in the coasting trade, and their places 

 in the fisheries being supplied by smaller ones; and also to the transfer 

 of a number of menhaden vessels from the New England region to the 

 State of New York. The number of boats employed in the shore fish- 

 eries was 10,557, valued at $621,670; the apparatus of capture used on 

 vessels and boats was valued at $1,218,898; the value of shore and 



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