138 ELEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 



collection of these curiosities was sent by the writer to the St. Louis Exposi- 

 tion. Some photographs of the specimens accompany this article. 



The Escallop Fishery. 



The escallop fisheries of this State are located almost entirely in the 

 easterly section of Long Island. In Little Peconic, Great Peconic and 

 Gardiner's bays are found the best fishing grounds. The expanse of water 

 through these bays is about twenty-five miles in length and of varying width. 

 About two hundred boats of the sloop type, each carrying a crew of three 

 men, are engaged in this industry and have earned an average amount of 

 $600 each during the past (1904) season. The crop has been abundant and 

 has sold for from $1.50 to $3.00 per gallon. The stock when raised is taken 

 to shanties erected upon the shore, often in isolated situations, where the 

 escallops are opened by the " pickers " who remove from each of the shellfish 

 the adductor muscle which constitutes the edible portion of the escallop. 

 The remaining parts are thrown away. The meat is then prepared for 

 shipment and forwarded to market. Most of the stock is sold in New York 

 city, though the failure of the 1904 crop in Rhode Island and other New 

 England states created a new demand throughout New England for Long 

 Island escallops. As a result, our friends to the northward of Long Island 

 sound succeeded in obtaining a large portion, perhaps nearly one-half , of our 

 Long Island crop. Occasionally escallops are found in other localities, but 

 the great bulk of them, constituting the market supply, are caught in the 

 bays named. 



Sometimes a high wind, with its accompanying immense waves, will 

 cast up vast quantities of escallops upon the beaches, where, at low water, 

 they may be readily gathered by any one who cares to make the effort. 



The escallops during the past season have been unusually large. A 

 good ' ' picker ' ' will open from forty to fifty quarts a day, and is paid for 

 this service six cents per quart. 



It is estimated that the crop of 1904 returned to the fishermen the 

 round sum of $200,000. An escallop attains a marketable size in one year. 

 Though the crop of 1905 will be small, there is now found a good " set " 

 which, if all goes well, will insure an abundance for the fall and winter of 1906. 



