370 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
FISHERIES OF NEW JERSEY. 
Importance and prominent features of industry . — The rank of INew Jersey anaong 
the States of this section, as deteriniuecl by the value of the products, is fourth, 
althoug’h the difl'ereuce between it and Virginia is so slight that a comparatively 
unimportant advance in the catcli of one of a dozen species would place this State 
ahead. Its position is only one point lower when the entire country is considered. 
The natural features of this State are extremely favorable to the prosecution of 
extensive fisheries. The long ocean frontage permits the carrying on of various 
fisheries for the typical salt-water fishes, which are unusually abundant on this coast; 
the large bays of the northern and southern extremities of the State and the smaller 
bays on the ocean side afford uncommonly fine opportunities for oyster fishing and 
cultivation, in addition to being the haunts of numerous shore and anadromous fishes 
of recognized food value, while the two foremost shad rivers in the country skirt the 
borders of the State, the Delaware forming practically its entire A\-estern boundary 
and the Hudson its eastern border for a distance of 22 miles above its mouth. 
Every part of the State is within easy rail communication with Xew York, Brooklyn, 
Philadelphia, Jersey City, iSTewark, Trenton, and other large cities of New York, 
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, thus insuring a ready and constant market, while 
the enormous summer popxrlation of the seaside communities is in itself sufficient to 
maintain profitable fishei ies of large proportions. 
The specially prominent fisheries of this State are the taking of oysters and clams 
in lower New York, Delaware, and the smaller bays of the outer coast; the pound-net 
fishing on the northern part of the ocean shore; the line fishing for bluefish and sea 
bass carried on in the ocean from small boats; the gill-net and seine fishing for shad, 
alewives, and sturgeon in the Hudson and Delaware Eivers ; the pound-net fishery for 
shad and other fishes along the shore west of Sandy Hook, and the menhaden industry. 
The fisheries in which New Jersey surpasses the other States of this region are the 
shore bluefish, the sea bass, the shad, the squeteague, and the king crab, and in the 
output of these same products the State takes ixrecedence of the entire country. 
Statistical summary . — In the following series of tables, condensed statistics of the 
fisheries of this State in 1889, 1890, 1891, and 1892 are presented. 
The number of persons emplojmd in the industry varied but little in the years 
named. In 1892, 10,447 persons were engaged, of whom 2,157 were vessel fishermen, 
7,560 shore and boat fishermen, 194 transporters, and 530 shore employes, such as 
factory hands. 
In the last year covered by the retiirn.s, 12,571,413 was represented by the vessels, 
boats, apparatus, shore property, and cash capital devoted to the business. The 
princijial factors in this large amount were 540 fishing vessels, valued, with their 
outfits, at $718,060; 79 transporting vessels, rvorth $117,565; 5,591 boats, with a value 
of $414,321; 3,941 gill nets, Avorth $129,791; 234 pound nets, valued at $83,913; shore 
property and cash capital, $969,243. The investment in 1892 was larger than in any 
of the three preceding years, and was about $350,000 more than in 1889. 
The yield of the fisheries in 1892 was 73,267,434 pounds, valued at $3,646,382. 
The quantity of the catch was less and the value was greater than in any of the other 
years. The decrease in the output Avas due chiefiy to a diminished catch of bluefish 
and menhaden, while the augmented value of the yield depended chiefiy on larger sales 
of market and seed oysters. 
