BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
136 
Barnstable County is equally prominent in the quantity and value of boats and 
apparatus used in the shore fisheries. The total investment in the State was $567,220, 
of which $295,074 was the value of boats aud apparatus owned in Barnstable County.* 
Plymouth County had $90,528 invested, Dukes County $56,632, Essex County $51,391, 
and Bristol County $44,799; each of the remaining counties had property worth less than 
$15,000. The 3,494 boats used in the shore fisheries were worth $254,033 and were, 
naturally, the most prominent single item of expense. Of apparatus, pound nets and 
trap nets were the most important. The number set in 1889 was 224, valued at 
$222,583, of which 97, worth $156,332, were owned in Barnstable County. Pots and 
gill nets are the only remaining forms of apparatus having a high value and deserving 
special mention; of the former, 27,294 were used, worth $38,697, and of the latter, 3,128, 
valued at $32,753. 
The shore fisheries in 1889 yielded 151,169,696 pounds, for which the fishermen 
received $1,080,089. More than a third of this quantity, viz, 54,254,926 pounds, and 
more than two-fiftlis of the value, viz, $412,604, represented the fisheries of Barn- 
stable County. The next important counties were Essex, 7,342,524 pounds, $174,660 ; 
Dukes, 26,194,734 pounds, $135,209; Plymouth, 14,665,573 pounds, $129,423; and 
Bristol, 38,387,976 pounds, $109,584. 
The lobster is the most valuable single species taken in the shore fisheries of the 
State; 3,273,562 pounds were caught in 1889, the price of which was $144,656. The 
lobster fishery is the most extensive in Essex, Suffolk, and Plymouth counties, but 
it is somewhat important in all the other counties except Norfolk. 
The soft clam ( Myci arenaria ) is the next important species obtained by the shore 
fishermen of Massachusetts ; a small percentage of the catch is salted for bait, but most 
of the clams are marketed in a fresh condition. In 1889 the aggregate output of fresh 
and salt clams was 2,511,430 pounds, equivalent to about 240,151 bushels, for which 
the fishermen received $137,047. More than half the yield was taken in Essex County. 
The catch of fresh and salt mackerel amounted to 1,546,944 pounds, valued at 
$123,074. By far the largest part of this was taken in Barnstable County. Essex 
is the only other county having a shore mackerel fishery of any extent. Mackerel is 
the most valuable fish in the shore fisheries of Massachusetts, and is third in value 
among fishery products, being surpassed by the two invertebrates already mentioned. 
Scup is the next important species, 2,473,432 pounds being secured, returning the 
fishermen $81,824. The principal catch is made in Dukes and Barnstable counties. 
Herring is the most abundant species taken in this fishery; 8,701,188 pounds of 
fresh and salt fish, valued at $74,994, were landed in 1889. It is extensively utilized 
for bait. Although the herring is captured in every coast county but Nantucket, the 
fishery may be said to be confined to Barnstable, Essex, and Suffolk counties. 
Algae, sea weeds, or sea mosses are the next most valuable products of the Mas- 
sachusetts shore fisheries. No less than 117,993,900 pounds, or 58,997 tons, worth 
$66,034, were utilized, mostly in Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes, and Bristol counties. 
The gathering and preparation of Irish moss is an industry of some consequence, and 
one which will probably increase. 
* A notable innovation of recent years is the employment in Barnstable County of steam pound- 
net boats, sturdy steam launches about 30 feet long, built expressly for the purpose. 
