PERSONS EMPLOYED, SALARIES, AND WAGES. 



15 



The inquiry called, for the number of proprietors, firm 

 members, and individual fishermen to be reported sepa- 

 rately, and also for a separate report of the salaried em- 

 ployees, such as officers, managers, and clerks. The 

 wage-earners were returned as (a) vessel fishermen, (6) 

 shore and boat fishermen, and (c) shoresmen. An esti- 

 mate was also obtained of the cost of provisions sup- 

 plied to employees, which is shown separately and also 

 included in the amount shown for salaries or wages. 



The preceding table summarizes the statistics for 



persons employed and salaries and wages paid, by 

 geographic divisions and by the main branches of the 

 industry : 



Of the total number of persons engaged in the fish- 

 ing industry in the United States in 1908, 25 per cent 

 were employed on fishing and transporting vessels, 73 

 per cent in the shore and boat fisheries, and 2 per cent 

 shoresmen, directly connected with the catching 



as 



of fish. In addition to the foregoing there were 2,952 

 proprietors not engaged in fishing. 



i Less than 1 per cent. 



The Atlantic coast division was by far the most 

 important in the United States, giving occupation to 

 66 per cent of all the persons engaged in fishing. The 

 next in importance of the fisheries districts was the 

 Gulf of Mexico division, where 1 1 per cent of the total 

 number were employed. The Pacific coast division, 

 the Mississippi River division, and the Great Lakes 

 division follow in the order named. The next table 

 gives the distribution of persons employed in the 

 Atlantic coast division, according to groups of states. 



More than one-fourth of the total number of persons 

 engaged in fishing in the Atlantic coast division in 1908 

 were employed in the vessel fisheries and on trans- 

 porting vessels, and more than two-thirds in the shore 

 and boat fisheries, while less than 2 per cent were 

 shoresmen. In vessel fisheries and on transporting 

 vessels combined, over four-fifths of the persons em- 

 ployed were wage-earners, as compared with only a 

 little more than one-third of those employed in the 

 shore and boat fisheries. 



Each of the three groups of states comprising the 

 Atlantic coast division employed more fishermen than 

 any one of the four other geographic divisions into 



which the country is divided. More than one-half 

 of the fishermen of the Atlantic coast division were 

 employed in the fisheries of the Middle Atlantic states, 

 nearly one-fourth in those of the New England states, 

 and about one-fifth in those of the South Atlantic 

 states. 



In New England the vessel fisheries predominated, a 

 fact which was not true of any other group of states 

 for which statistics are presented. It follows that in 

 this group of states the total number of wage-earners 

 and salaried employees was large, as compared with 

 the total number of proprietors and independent fisher- 

 men. From the excess of the number of proprietors 

 and independent fishermen over the number of wage- 

 earners in the shore and boat fisheries it is evident 

 that there were more than 6,000 independent fisher- 

 men. 



In the Middle Atlantic states over 70 per cent of 

 the persons employed were in the shore and boat 

 fisheries. In the South Atlantic states the number 

 of persons employed in the vessel fisheries was relatively 

 small. Only 1,973 persons, or 11 per cent of the total 

 number, were on fishing and transporting vessels. 



