FISHERIES OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC STATES. 
285 
in which the general facilities for prosecuting the industry are more favorable. The 
fisheries, therefore, possess a great economic interest to the State and indirectly to the 
country at large ; and a proper knowledge of the extent, condition, and needs of the 
industry becomes of considerable importance to the citizens of the commonwealth. 
In 1880 North Carolina occupied the tenth rank among the coast States, this posi- 
tion being determined by the value of the products. In 1888, owing chiefly to a large 
decrease in the mullet fishery, the State had fallen to the thirteenth position, being 
surpassed by Massachusetts, California, New Jersey, Maryland, New York, Virginia, 
Maine, Connecticut, Oregon, Washington, Rhode Island, and Florida. At the pres- 
ent time, owing to an almost phenomenal development of the oyster industry, the State 
occupies a place considerably in advance of that held in 1888, and probably ranks 
after Connecticut in the list before given. There is little reason to doubt that the 
increased attention recently devoted to oyster production and cultivation will soon 
give North Carolina higher rank and greater prestige as a fishing State. 
GENERAL STATISTICS. 
The statistical data herewith presented cover the entire commercial fishery inter- 
ests of the State, including the river basins. From the three general tables which 
follow a clear conception may be gained of the condition and extent of the fisheries 
as they existed in 1889 and 1890. 
The prominent features of the first table, showing the number of persons employed 
in the industry, are (1) the small proportion of vessel fishermen and the large num- 
ber of shore and boat fishermen, the disparity being greater than in almost any other 
coast State; and (2) the substantial increase in the number of fishery employes in 
1890 as compared with the previous year, the advance bei ng especially marked in the 
shoresmen, the reasons for which will be brought out elsewhere. The total fishing 
population, numbering 10,274 in 1890, is much larger than that of any State, except 
Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, Virginia, and New Jersey. 
The capital invested in the fishing industry was $968,600 in 1889 and $1,243,988 
in 1890. This increase was chiefly due to the greater amount of shore property and 
cash capital employed. In 1890 the value of vessels and their outfits was $101,029; 
of boats, pile-drivers, and steam flats, $188,375; of apparatus of capture, $344,278; 
of shore property and working capital, $610,306. The minor factors in the investment 
are brought out in the second table of the series. 
In the third table the quantities and values of each of the important objects of 
capture are shown for 1889 aud 1890. It is seen that in 1889 45,545,643 pounds of 
fishery products were taken, which yielded the fishermen $950,427, and in the follow- 
ing year 51,799,142 pounds were taken, with a value of $1,027,669. The most import- 
ant single product of the North Carolina fisheries is the shad, the value of which in 
1890 was $306,015; this sum was considerably in excess of the selling price of the 
next important species, the oyster, which was $175,567. The alewives had a value of 
$164,636, after which the principal species were mullet, worth $97,408; squeteague, 
worth $48,856; bluefish, worth $33,603; aud striped bass, worth $32,138. The other 
products are relatively unimportant. 
