BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 165 
large majority, of the people, both along the American shore and on 
the British islands, are wholly dependent upon the sardine industry 
for a livelihood, some giving their entire attention to catching the fish, 
others to transporting them, while the remainder are employed in vari- 
ous ways in the canneries. 
III.— THE WEIR FISHERIES. 
The Weirs. — By far the largest part of the fish are caught in brush 
weirs, which so far as we know are peculiar to the coast of Maine and 
the Bay of Fundy. These were employed by the white settlers in the 
capture of herring in this vicinity before the beginning of the present 
century, having no doubt been copied from those used earlier by the 
Indians. During the season of 1886 there were on the American shore, 
between Bobbinston and West Quoddy Head, including Cobscook Bay 
and its numerous branches, 88 herring weirs, besides the salmon weirs 
of the St. Croix River between Robbinston and Calais ; 83 weirs on Deer 
Island and small adjoining islands ; 21 around Campobello Island; 58 in 
St. Andrew’s Bay, and 80 along the Canadian mainland between St. An- 
drew’s Bay and Point Lepreau. There are also 23 weirs within a radius 
of 8 or 10 miles of Cutler ; 46 weirs between the mouth of the Little 
Kennebec River and Prospect Harbor, supplying the factories of Jones- 
port and Millbridge, with 46 others around Mount Desert and adjoining 
islands, supplying those at Bass Harbor, Southwest Harbor, and La- 
moine; and 12 from Deer Isle to Carver’s Harbor, upon which the fac- 
tories of Deer Isle and Brooklin depend. 
Prior to 1880 the weirs were built in the more sheltered coves, and 
were comparatively small and inexpensive; and this is true to-day of a 
large majority of the weirs along the coast of Maine west of Lubec, 
and also to a greater or less extent of those between Lubec and Rob- 
binston, and of those in St. Andrew’s Bay and along the main shore of 
New Brunswick; but at Deer Island and the other British islands in 
the vicinity, which are now the center of the herring fishery, the weirs 
are now considerably larger and more expensive than formerly, being 
often located on the extreme points of land or even in the deep tide-chan- 
nels among the islands and ledges. Their average depth is now about 20 
feet. Five years ago the average cost of the weirs on Deer Island did 
not exceed $300 or $400 ; but later it advanced to $600, and the weirs 
recently built will average little, if any, short of $800, one or two of the 
largest and most expensive costing as much as $3,000. Those along 
the coast, from Cutler to Millbridge, cost about $200 each, besides $75 
for the boat and $50 for the seine used in fishing them. Two or three men 
ordinarily constitute a weir crew on the American coast. 
The weirs are as a rule made of brush, the stakes or posts being driven 
firmly into the ground and strengthened by large horizontal stringers 
which are securely bolted to them. The portion below low- water mark 
is closely woven or “wattled” with branches of trees running horizon- 
