PRODUCTS OF THE PRINCIPAL FISHERIES IN DETAIL. 



55 



considered together, the products of Virginia and 

 Maryland are very nearly equal in value, that of the 

 Virginia product being $326,000 and that of the Mary- 

 land product $319,000. These two states together 



contributed 71 per cent and the Middle Atlantic- 

 states, as a group, 74 per cent of the total value of the 

 hard and soft crab product. 



1 Includes 7,643,000 pounds of king crabs, valued at $23,000; 62,000 pounds of stone crabs, valued at $3,700; and 7,200 pounds of spider crabs. 



2 Includes 4,607,000 pounds of king crabs, valued at $18,000. 6 Less than 1 per cent. 



' Includes 2,980,000 pounds of king crabs, valued at $4,300. ' Includes 62,000 pounds of stone crabs, valued at $3,700. 



' Includes 63,000 pounds of king and spider crabs, valued at $100. 



The statistics of the hard and soft crab product, for 

 the years for which returns are available, are given in 

 the following tabular statement : 



i Not including the New England states and the South Atlantic states. 

 » Not reported. 3 Not reported separately. 



The crab fisheries show a great increase in pro- 

 ductivity. As compared with the product of hard and 

 soft crabs in 1908, amounting to 52,913,000 pounds, 

 valued at $912,000, the figures for 1880 are small, the 

 product being only 7,711,000 pounds, valuedat $338,000. 

 Virginia and Maryland are the states reporting the 

 largest quantities in 1880, as well as in 1908, but New 

 York and New Jersey followed closely, and the value 

 of New Jersey's product in 1880 was greater than that 

 of all the remaining states of the Atlantic seaboard 

 and the Gulf combined. No figures covering the whole 

 United States are available for any single year of the 

 intervening period, but the composite figures show 

 the increase to be general. The increase in value 

 shows greater fluctuations than the increase in the 

 quantity of the product. 



The king crab or horseshoe crab is used for bait and 

 hog feed, but most extensively for fertilizer purposes. 

 The following tabular statement shows the product for 

 certain specified years : 



All king crabs reported were taken from the Atlantic 

 Ocean along the Middle Atlantic states, two-thirds of 

 the quantity coming from New Jersey. 



