THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 11 



the country. The winter shipment is also very considerable. Large numbers are 

 immediately boiled for home consumption, while many are kept, alive in floating cars 

 at the market until required. The impounding of lobsters, or placing them in large 

 inclosures of salt water, called pounds, where they can be kept during the winter, 

 is now successfully practiced on a large scale. 



VII. 



We have witnessed in the lobster fishery for many years past the anomaly of a 

 declining industry with a yearly increasing yield, but with the gradual diminution in 

 the size of the lobsters caught and an undue increase in the number of traps and 

 fishermen. "How much longer," writes the inspector of fisheries of New Brunswick, 

 "an increased catch can be made out of a diminishing supply is a problem of some 

 interest to those who have watched the rise, progress, and decay of this industry.'" ' 



In 1886 fully 90,000,000 lobsters were captured in Canada, 2 principally in Nova 

 Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec. Out of this vast number 

 nearly 34,000,000 were taken in New Brunswick alone, and 22,000,000 in Prince 

 Edward Island. These numbers are extraordinary, when we consider, as in the last 

 instance, the small extent of the coast and the narrow limits of the fishing season. 



In regard to the catch of lobsters in New Brunswick for 188G, the inspector of 

 fisheries says in his report 3 that the average size is diminishing, and "to fill a pound 

 can now requires rather more than an average of six lobsters — about 2} ounces of 

 meat per fish. The returns show 4,661,812 cans preserved, and 4,290 tons of fresh 

 lobsters. In order to fill these cans, 28,000,000 lobsters were killed. If to these we 

 add the number exported fresh, allowing li- pounds to each, which is a large average, 

 the number killed during the season will be 33,720,000." 4 



In 1887 about 70,000,000 lobsters were taken in Canada, and in 1S92 upward of 

 68,000,000 lobsters (estimated as above) were captured, valued at nearly $2,000,000. 5 



In 1884 the catch of lobsters in New Brunswick amounted to 5,662,072 cans and 

 1,709 tons, valued at $900,580, the number of traps in use being 105,984. In 1892 the 

 number of traps had increased to 172,022, an increase of over 60 per cent, while the 

 product had decreased by nearly the same amount, being 3,204,320 cans and 1,132 

 tons, valued at only $493,S04. 6 



The average annual yield of the Norwegian lobster fishery from 1879 to 1884 is 

 estimated to have been 1,175,000 lobsters, valued at $107,468, the greater number 



1 W. H. Venning, inspector of fisheries of New Brunswick. (Annual Report of the Department of 

 Fisheries, Dominion of Canada, 1886, p. 146.) 



-This estimate is based upon the official statistical return of the lobster fishery, allowing five 

 lobsters to a pound can of meat, and a trifle over 2 pounds in weight to each lobster. The yield in 

 1892 was 16,434,431 pounds in cans, and 8,662 tons of fresh lobsters, valued at $2,638,394. (Report on 

 the Lobster Industry of Canada for 1892. Supplement to the Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the 

 Department of Marine and Fisheries, No. 10<7, Ottawa, 1893.) 



■' Annual Report of the Department of Fisheries of the Dominion of Canada, 1886. 



* Ibid. 



6 It should be remembered that these estimates, large as they seem, are based upon statistics 

 which are generally reliable, and probably fall far below the number of animals annually killed ; for 

 they do not include the number of undersized lobsters illegally used for canning, nor those used 

 as food by fishermen and their families. Then there is. besides, the vast number of lobsters which 

 annually fall a prey to other enemies than man. 



,; Report, on the Lobster Industry of Canada, 1892. Supplement to the Twenty-fifth Annual 

 Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, No. 1(W, Ottawa, 1893. 



