FISHERIES, BY STATES. 



211 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



Among the states in which commercial fishing was 

 pursued in 1908, North Carolina ranked eleventh in 

 the value of fishery products. The chief fishing 

 grounds of the state were Albemarle, Pamlico, and 

 Core Sounds, and their tributary rivers. Among the 

 important rivers were the Cape Fear, New, Roanoke, 

 Shallotte, Newport, North, and Neuse. Many smaller 

 sounds and rivers also contributed to the fishery prod- 

 uct of the state. 



The following tabular statement gives a general 

 summary of the statistics of the North Carolina fish- 

 eries in 1908: 



Number of persons employed 9, 681 



Capital: 



Vessels and boats, including outfit $533, 000 



Apparatus of capture 367, 000 



Shore and accessory property and cash 370, 000 



Value of products 1, 776, 000 



Comparison with previous canvasses. — In prior can- 

 vasses of the fisheries of North Carolina, the United 

 States Bureau of Fisheries enumerated among the 

 shoresmen employees of the canning and packing indus- 

 tries allied to the fishing industry. These are, how- 

 ever, excluded in the following tabular statement, 

 which shows the general statistics of the fishing indus- 

 try for certain years: 



An increase in the number of persons employed was 

 shown at each canvass up to and including that of 

 1902, and this was accompanied by increases in all the 

 other items given in the above statement. From 1902 

 to 1908, however, there was a decline in the number 

 of persons employed and a corresponding decrease in 

 the value of both classes of equipment. The vessels 

 engaged in fishing and transporting show a decrease 

 of $79,000 in value since 1902. Products, on the other 

 hand, continued to increase in both quantity and 

 value. 



The following tabular statement distributes, by 

 class of fisheries, the number of persons employed in 

 the years for which canvasses have been made from 

 1880 to 1908: 



Persons employed. — The distribution of the persons 

 employed is given in the following tabular statement : 



' Exclusive of 214 proprietors not fishing. 



2 Includes provisions furnished to the value of $34,000. 



» Less than $100. 



The vessel fisheries gave, employment in 1908 to only 

 a small percentage of the total number of persons re- 

 ported. The shore and boat fisheries are credited with 

 8,571 persons, or 89 per cent of the total number, 

 while only 1,066, or 11 per cent, were engaged in the 

 vessel fisheries and on the transporting vessels. Only 

 44 shoresmen were reported. By far the larger num- 

 ber of persons re"ported for vessel fisheries and trans- 

 porting vessels were wage-earners. For the shore and 

 boat fisheries of North Carolina a larger proportion of 

 wage-earners and a smaller proportion of independent 

 fishermen were reported than for the same class of fish- 

 eries in other states. 



Many of the persons employed in the industry fished 

 only a part of the year, and during the remainder of 

 the time engaged in farming and other occupations. 



Equipment and other capital. — The next tabular state- 

 ment gives the distribution, by class of investment, 

 of the total capital employed in the fisheries of North 

 Carolina. 



The total investment in 1908 in fishing and trans- 

 porting vessels and their outfits was $282,000, which 

 was greater than the investment in boats by $30,000. 

 The value of vessels and apparatus of capture pertain- 

 ing to vessel fisheries was only $308,000, or one-half 



