96 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
followed by Hancock, Lincoln, and Knox counties, with from about 400 to 700 men 
each ; Washington, with over 200 ; and York, Sagadahoc, and Waldo, with less than 100 
each, the last-named county having only 4 vessel fishermen. 
It is interesting to observe that 267 aliens are found among the Maine vessel fisher- 
men. This is equivalent to 10 per cent of the whole number. The British provincial 
element greatly predominates, numbering 246, or 92 per cent of all aliens. Lincoln 
has more foreign vessel fishermen than any other county, after which are Cumberland 
and Hancock counties. The other counties have only a very small proportion of un- 
naturalized fishermen. 
Table 23 shows that 349 fishing vessels and 59 transporters were employed in the 
waters of Maine in 1889, worth, with their outfits and apparatus, $959,090. Hancock 
County has the greatest number of vessels, although Cumberland County leads in 
tonnage and value. Of the vessels used in transporting fishery products, nearly half 
were owned in Washington County. 
Purse seines to the number of 56 are used in five counties, Cumberland being 
credited with 31. Gill nets are found in every county, the total number fished being 
1,540, of which Knox and Lincoln counties each have 360. Lines are the most valu- 
able form of apparatus in the vessel fisheries, and are used in all the counties except 
Waldo. Lobster pots are naturally the most numerous apparatus and are employed 
to the number- of 6,715 in all the counties but Waldo and Sagadahoc, the greatest 
number being in Washington County. Harpoons, dredges, and rakes complete the 
list; these are only sparingly used. 
The products of the vessel fisheries, as shown in the third table of the series, 
amounted to 38,358,830 pounds, for which the fishermen received $690,967. Cumber- 
land County leads all others in the quantity and value of products, being credited 
with nearly one-third the yield and more than one-third of the value of the catch in 
the entire State. Lincoln County ranks second in quantity of products, but is sur- 
passed by Hancock in the value of output. Each of five counties shows products 
amounting to from over 1,000,000 pounds to upwards of 12,000,000. Cod, the most 
important species, is taken in largest quantity in Cumberland County, but the value 
of the cod caught by Hancock County vessels is greater than in Cumberland County, 
owing to the condition in which the product is sold. 
22. — Table showing by counties the number and nationality of men employed in the vessel fisheries 
of Maine in 1889. 
