FISHERIES, BY STATES. 



139 



i Exclusive of 178 proprietors not fishing. 



2 Includes provisions furnished to the value of $28,000. 



Nearly three-fourths of the persons employed in 

 fishing industries in the state were engaged in the 

 shore and boat fisheries, and nearly nine-tenths of 

 those engaged in the shore and boat fisheries were 

 proprietors and independent fishermen. Of the total 

 number engaged in the shore and boat fisheries, 534, 

 or 11 per cent, were employed by others. The follow- 

 ing tabular statement shows the number of persons 

 employed, exclusive of shoresmen, in the fisheries of 

 Maine during the years named : 



There has been a general, though to some extent 

 interrupted, decrease since 1880 in the number of per- 

 sons employed. The total number employed was 

 smallest in 1908, and the number employed in shore and 

 boat fisheries was smaller in that year than at any other 

 time since 1880. Both for the fisheries of the state as 

 a whole and for the shore and boat fisheries the largest 

 number of persons employed was reported in 1902. 

 For vessel fisheries the largest number of employees 

 was reported in 1880 and the smallest number in 

 1905, although the number in 1902 was larger than 

 that at any canvass since 1889. Contrary to the 

 general tendency toward a decrease in the number of 

 persons employed apparent in each of the other branches 

 of the industry, the number employed on transport- 

 ing vessels shows a small increase from year to year. 



Equipment and other capital.— The following table 

 gives statistics of the equipment and of other capital 

 employed : 



In 1908 the total investment in vessels, boats, and 

 apparatus of capture was $2,245,000. Of this amount, 

 $1,007,000 represented the investment in vessels and 

 their outfits and $662,000 the investment in boats. 



A prominent feature of the Maine fisheries is the 

 large number of small craft. The value of the boats 

 employed in 1908 represented 27 per cent of all capital 

 invested, the value of steam and motor boats alone 

 forming 23 per cent. The investment in power craft 

 of all kinds, including vessels and boats with their out- 

 fits, aggregated $1,245,000, or 52 per cent of all capital 

 invested. 



The statistics for boats show a material increase in 

 the number and a large increase in the value, as com- 

 pared with the returns for earlier years made by the 

 Bureau of Fisheries. The increase in value seems to 

 be due to the increasing use of motor boats of small 

 tonnage. For 1905 the report of the Bureau of 

 Fisheries showed only 798 gasoline boats (including 

 one steamer), with a value of $233,000, while in 1908 

 the steam and motor boats numbered 2,272, with a 

 total value of $559,000. The capital invested in craft 

 and apparatus of capture together was nearly equal 

 for the two classes of fisheries, aggregating $1,087,000 

 for the vessel fisheries and $1,158,000 for the shore and 

 boat fisheries. 



Lobster and eel pots, which constituted the prin- 

 cipal apparatus used in the lobster industry, far ex- 

 ceeded in number any other kind of apparatus used 

 in the fishing industries of Maine. Pound and trap 

 nets were used principally in the shore and boat 

 fisheries, no pound nets and only 11 trap nets being 

 used in the vessel fisheries. Of the 511 seines used, 

 412 were reported for the shore and boat fisheries. 



