198 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



The largest investment was in vessels, 46 per cent 

 of the total capital being invested in fishing and 

 transporting vessels and their outfits. From 1903-4 to 

 1908 there was an increase of 3 in the number of 

 fishing vessels, accompanied by a decrease of 2,703 

 in the net tonnage, while both the number and the 

 tonnage of transporting vessels decreased, the falling 

 off in number amounting to 70 and that in net ton- 

 nage to 858. The total investment in apparatus of 

 capture was $362,000, over two-thirds of which per- 

 tained to the shore and boat fisheries. In the Great 



Lakes district the largest investment was in apparatus 

 of capture, the value of which represented 39 per cent 

 of the total investment for this district. 



The investment in shore and accessory property and 

 the cash capital reported, which together represented 

 over a third of the total investment, were confined 

 almost wholly to the Atlantic coast fisheries. 



The following table gives detailed statistics con- 

 cerning the number of the principal kinds of apparatus 

 of capture used: 



Products, by species. — The products of the New 

 York fisheries in 1908 amounted to 76,485,000 pounds, 

 valued at $4,594,000, and are shown in detail in Table 

 1, on page 204. Mollusks contributed nearly two- 

 thirds of the total value of all products, the value of 

 oysters alone constituting 56 per cent of the total. 

 The value of the catch of squeteague, which was the 

 most important species of fish proper reported and 

 which ranked second to oysters among all fishery 

 products, represented 10 per cent of the total. 



Products, oy fishing grounds. — Table 6, on page 207, 

 shows the total fishery products of the state, distrib- 

 uted by species and by districts. Detailed statistics 

 of the products of the Atlantic coast, Long Island 

 Sound, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario districts, by kind 

 and by apparatus of capture, are shown, respectively, 

 in Tables 2, 3, 4, and 5, on pages 205 to 207. 



As all of the mollusks, the most valuable class of 

 fishery products, and all of the salt-water fish were 

 taken on the Atlantic coast, this district is credited 

 with a large proportion of the total value of products. 

 Fish contributed 31 per cent of the total value of 



products of the Atlantic coast district. The value of 

 squeteague, which is by far the most important species 

 of fish caught, combined with that of bluefish, floun- 

 ders, and cod, made up nearly three-fourths of the 

 entire value of the fish caught in this district. All the 

 pike perch, lake herring, and whitefish were taken in 

 the Great Lakes district, Lake Erie furnishing much the 

 larger part of the value of each of these. Some species 

 were taken in the Hudson River and also in the Great 

 Lakes ; eels and German carp were taken principally 

 in the Hudson River, and sturgeon and catfish princi- 

 pally in the Great Lakes. The most important species 

 taken in Lake Erie were pike perch and lake herring. 

 For Lake Ontario the principal species were catfish 

 and bullheads, pike perch, and sturgeon. 



Products, by class of fisheries. — Table 7, on page 208, 

 gives statistics of the fishery products of New York, 

 distributed by species and by class of fisheries. Tables 

 8 and 10, on pages 209 and 210, show the distribu- 

 tion by districts of the products of the vessel fish- 

 eries and the shore and boat fisheries, respectively, 

 ranked according to value. 



