316 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH . AND FISHERIES. 



accessory property in the fisheries and fishery industries was $7,115,030, 

 and the cash capital amounted to $6,4:57,099. 



The products of the fisheries aggregated 393,457,906 pounds, val- 

 ued at $9,682,290. Maine. produced 123,404,561 pounds, valued at 

 $2,654,919; New Hampshire, 3,020,715 pounds, valued at ^8,987; 

 Massachusetts, 202,257.817pounds, valued at $4,463,727; Rhode Island, 

 32,854,396 pounds, valued at $955,058; and Connecticut, 31,920,417 

 pounds, valued at $1,559,599. Some of the more important species 

 secured in the fisheries of these States were cod, cusk, haddock, hake, 

 and pollock, valued at $2,798,109, halibut at $569,515, mackerel at 

 $481,933, herring at $596,684, alewives at $76,959, smelt at $140,912, 

 blue-fish at $86,461, scup at $93,353, squeteague at $108,945, sword- 

 fish at $90,130, shad at $41,018, eels at $64,756, lobsters at $1,276,967, 

 clams and quahogs at $578,455, and oysters at $1,910,684. The prod- 

 ucts of the whale fisheries, consisting chiefly of whale, sperm, and sea- 

 elephant oils, and whalebone, were valued at $285,688. 



There has been a decrease in the products of the fisheries since 1889 • 

 of 259,712,134 pounds, or 39.76 per cent, in quantity, and of $868,351, . 

 or 8.23 per cent, in value. A decrease in quantity has occurred in all I 

 of the States in this section, varying from 4.75 per cent in Maine to 

 74.20 per cent in Rhode Island. The value in New Hampshire has 

 also decreased $39,524, or 44.65 per cent, and in Massachusetts 

 $1,394,547, or 23.80 per cent, but in Maine it has increased $543,713, or r 

 25.75 per cent, and to a small extent in Rhode Island and Connecticut. 



The decrease in products in the various States, except in New r 

 Hampshire, where it relates to nearly all of the principal species, is 

 due chiefly to a smaller quantity of algse and to a decline in the catch 

 of menhaden. The products of Maine in 1889 included 12,900,000 

 pounds of algae, valued at $6,315, whereas none appears in the statistics] 

 of that State in 1898. The products of Massachusetts included 

 117,993,900 pounds of algae in 1889, valued at $66,034, and only 700,000 

 pounds, valued at $22,375, in 1898. If the algae were eliminated from 

 the statistics of these States in both years the result in Maine would i 

 bean increase in the more important products of 6,744,697 pounds in 

 quantity and of $550,028 in value, and in Massachusetts an increase of 

 20,334,048 pounds in quantit}' and a decrease of $1,350,888 in value. 

 The increase in the value of the products in Maine ma}^ be attributed ^ 

 principally to the high prices received for lobsters, but in Massa-i 

 chusetts the catch of lobsters was not large enough to materially offset • 

 the decrease in the value of products occasioned by the comparatively 

 low prices received for fish. In Rhode Island the products have 

 decreased in quantit\% owing to a reduction of 109,440,000 pounds in 

 the catch of menhaden. There has, however, been considerable 

 increase in that State in the quantity of food species. The decrease 

 in the products of Connecticut may be accounted for by the absence of 



