108 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The most important shore fisheries in Maine are those for lobsters, herring, clams, 
ground fish, smelt, salmon, and shad. Each of these requires a short notice. 
The lobster . — In .considering the quantities of the different species making up the 
aggregate catch in the shore fisheries of Maine, the prominent place, occupied by the 
lobster is clearly shown. The lobster fishery is the, most important one in which 
the citizens of Maine are employed. More people are engaged in the capture of lob- 
sters than of any other single product, and the value of the output in 1889 was more 
than one-fourth that of the entire yield of the fisheries of the State, being $574,165. 
As compared with 1880, the lobster catch has greatly increased, and the fishery is 
becoming more important each year, this being evidenced as much by the increasing 
attention bestowed on the subject of lobster protection and preservation by the State 
authorities as by the larger output. Statistics of the fishery for the four years, 1880, 
1887, 1888, and 1889, are here presented side by side for comparison. It is thought 
that the catch in the last-named year was the largest in the history of the State. 
Tears. 
Pounds. 
Value. 
1880 
14, 234, 182 
$344, 693 
1887 
22,916,642 
512,’ 044 
1888 
21, 694, 731 
515, 880 
1889 
25,001,351 
574, 165 
The comparatively small quantities of lobsters taken in the vessel fishery are 
included in the table in order to make the comparison more complete, there being no 
separate figures for the shore catch in 1880. 
The herring . — The herring is the most important species in the shore fisheries of the 
State, with the exception of the lobster ; in the vessel fisheries the cod has greater 
value; but if the canning industry and trade in smoked fish are taken into considera- 
tion the herring easily assumes the first place among the products of the Maine fish- 
eries, and the species is by far the most abundant commercial fish in the waters of 
the State. In 1889, 23,248,981 pounds were sold fresh, salted, and smoked, for which 
the fishermen received $200,064, these figures being in addition to the vessel catch 
already referred to. 
Since 1885 the herring fishery of Maine has undergone a noticeable increase, 
which has been chiefly due to the abrogation of the Washington treaty. The manu- 
facturing enterprises connected with the canning of lobsters, the canning and smoking 
of herring, etc., have steadily increased, and new life and new capital have been put 
into the industry to meet the demand for larger supplies of raw materials, among 
which herring rank first in quantity and importance. The increase in the number of 
weirs and other appliances of capture has been more marked each year, and the 
growth and extension westward of the fishery and the dependent shore industries has 
been one of the most noteworthy features of the fisheries of this State during the past 
decade. 
An increase in the herring weir fisheries has in most localities been attended with 
a corresponding increase in the smoked-herring business, but in the region of Mount 
Desert Island a most interesting and important exception to this rule is to be observed, 
due to its favorable location as a baiting rendezvous for the bank cod fishermen of 
both Maine and Massachusetts. In this vicinity the increase in the number of herring 
