FISHEEIES OF THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. 379 



Table shonring the extent of the luholesale fishery trade of Rhode Island in 1898. 



Items. 



No. 



Value. 



Establishments . . 



Cash capital 



, Wages paid 



i Persons engaged 



28 



Products: 



Fresh fish pounds. . 



Smoked haddock : do 



Sword-fish do 



Lobsters do 



Clams bushels. . 



Quahogs do 



Scallops gallons. . 



Oysters do — 



3,850,000 



6,000 



116,400 



689, 375 



720 



3,900 



4,800 



2,440 



$28, 025 

 20,500 

 13,180 



97, 125 



420' 



11,640 



71,906- 



900 



4,825 



5,250' 



3,500- 



FISHERIES OF CONNECTICUT. 



In 1898 there were 2,473 persons employed in the fishery industries 

 of Connecticut. The investment in vessels, apparatus, etc. , amounted 

 to $1,241,291, and the products amounted to 31,920,417 pounds, for 

 which the fishermen received $1,559,599. 



Compared with 1889, the fisheries were fairly prosperous, and com- 

 paratively few changes of importance occurred. A decrease appears 

 in the number of the fishermen, due principally to the use of better 

 equipment both in vessels and apparatus of capture. The value of 

 the capital invested, as shown by the returns, decreased from $2,826,834 

 in 1889 to $1,241,291 in 1898. This is not due so much to a decrease 

 in the investment as to a change in the manner of reporting it. In 

 the former year the value of the oyster-grounds was included with the 

 item of shore property, whereas in 1898 it was omitted entirely. If 

 that item be excluded from the returns for each year, the decrease in the 

 investment appears to be only $282,818 instead of $1,585,543, as in the 

 tables. The total value of the product shows a fractional increase over 

 that of 1889, when it was $1,557,506, whereas in 1898 it was $1,559,599. 



The two principal items in the products, as in 1889, were oysters 

 and. lobsters, the yield of the former being valued at $1,249,071, or 80 

 per cent of the total, and of the latter $83,748, or 5 per cent of the 

 total. In 1889 the oyster yield was valued at $1,055,807 and the lob- 

 ster product at $83,099. The yield of menhaden and cod, which were 

 respectively third and fourth in rank in 1889, have decreased in value, 

 the former from $100,569 to $26,334 and the latter from $50,018 to 

 $10,978 in the two years under comparison. The yield of blue-fish, 

 flounders, sea bass, squeteague, hard clams, and soft clams shows little 

 change in value, but the fisheries for halibut and red snappers are no 

 longer prosecuted by vessels from this State. 



The three tables which follow show the number of persons employed, 

 the amount of capital invested, and the quantity and value of products 

 secured in the fisheries of Connecticut in 1898. 



