FISHERIES OF THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. 



349 



which are more extensive than in any other county in the State. The 

 more important forms of apparatus used were seines, gill nets, and 

 lines in the vessel fisheries, and pound nets in the shore fisheries. The 

 total investment, including outfits of vessels, shore property, and cash 

 capital, was $608,158; and the products amounted to 26,761,104 pounds, 

 vahied at $741,826. 



Provincetown is the principal fishing port in this county. It had 62 

 vessels engaged in the food fisheries and 4 in the whale fishery, a total 

 of QQ vessels, valued at $134,950. The greater part of the fleet in the 

 food fisheries fished on Georges and other banks off the New England 

 coast, and six of the largest vessels made trips to the Grand Banks of 

 Newfoundland. The catch was marketed chiefly at Boston. There 

 were also 205 boats of various classes used in the shore fisheries. The 

 persons employed numbered 912, of whom 650 were vessel fishermen, 

 149 shore fishermen, and 113 shoresmen. The total investment was 

 $376,020, and the value of the products obtained by vessels and boats 

 was $355,907. 



Besides the usual branches of fishing by vessels and boats, a fishery 

 for flounders is carried on in the harbor during the winter by boats 

 and by the smaller class of vessels with drag nets. These nets are 

 similar in construction to a beam trawl. They are 30 feet wide at the 

 mouth, 5 feet wide at the extreme end, and the length is 35 feet. The 

 method of operating them is to throw them overboard and drag them 

 on the bottom like a dredge, drawing them up at intervals to empty 

 the catch on the deck of the boat or vessel. They have been used in 

 this locality only a few years, and seldom take any other species than 

 flounders. 



In each of the five remaining counties the fisheries are less extensive. 

 The aggregate number of persons employed was 2,004; the invest- 

 ment, $521,469; and the quantity of the products, 12,971,903 pounds, 

 valued at $613,260. 



The following statistical statements of the value of the fishing appa- 

 ratus, and the quantit}^ and value of the products of the vessel and the 

 shore fisheries will serve to illustrate the importance of each of these 

 branches of fishing in the various counties: 



Value of fishing apparatus in the vessel and shore fisheries. 



Counties. 



Vessel 

 fisheries. 



Shore 

 fisheries. 



Essex 



S232, 963 

 50, 845 



S29,440 

 11, 527 



Suffolk 



Norfolk 



2,480 



Plymouth 



3,739 

 44,635 



3,240 

 706 

 954 



12,868 



Barnstable 



132, 683 



Nantucket 



3,990 



Dukes ... .... 



17, 963 



Bristol . 



8,497 







