BU LLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 425 
tt2.— SOME REASON'S WHY THE FISHERMEN OF NOVA SCOTIA PRE- 
FER TO USE SALT CLAMS (MYA AREN ARIA) FOR BAIT IN THE 
RANK HAND-LINE COD FISHERIES. 1 
By J. W. COLLINS. 
About thirty years ago the method of fishing with hand-lines from 
dories was adopted by those cod fishermen of the United States who 
resorted to the Great Bank of Newfoundland and to other large fishing 
grounds lying east of the sixty-third meridian of west longitude. This 
dory fishing superseded the method of fishing with hand-lines from the 
deck of a vessel, and, since the men could work over a larger area in 
their boats, more profitable returns were obtained than could be secured 
by the old-fashioned style of fishing. 
In recent years Nova Scotia has employed many vessels in the dory 
hand-line cod fishery on the ocean banks. The rapid growth of this 
fishery from that province is probably largely due to the decline of the 
Labrador cod fishery and the fact that excellent fares of cod can be 
obtained by this method of fishing, with comparatively small expense 
for outfit. 
The dory hand-line fishermen of Nova Scotia, like those of New Eng- 
land, use for bait salt clams (My a arenaria). This is the bait par excel- 
lence of the dory hand-liner, and to say that a vessel will engage in the 
bank hand-line cod fishery is to say that she will carry a supply of salt- 
clam bait. 
A sufficient quantity of this kind of bait can be obtained only in the 
United States. It is true that the soft clam occurs in the British Prov- 
inces, more especially in the Bay of Eundy, but nowhere is it abundant 
enough to furnish a supply much beyond that required for the tables 
of the local residents. The eastern limit where it is found sufficiently 
abundant for bait purposes is at Machias, Me. In the Machias customs 
district 20,100 bushels were dug in 1880, while the product of the East- 
port customs district during the same year was only 1,500 bushels. 
u In the Bay of Fundy, however, they were constantly dug in sufficient 
quantity for household use,” remarks IngersolL But the same authority 
states that the “ absence of extensive mud flats bordering the sea along 
this precipitous and rock-bound coast makes it unsuitable for the growth 
of clams to any great extent until the Bay at Jonesport, Me., is reached, 
where, between that town and Bogue Island, are very important dig- 
gings.” 2 
It will thus be seen that the procurement of salt-clam bait from the 
1 These notes were prepared for the use of the Commissioners who negotiated the 
fishery treaty between the United States and Great Britain in the winter of 1887-’88, 
and which was rejected by the Senate of the United States. 
2 The Fishery Industries of the United States, sec. v, Vol. 2 . The Clam Fisheries, 
by Ernest Ingersoll, p. 584. 
