GIANT SCALLOP FISHERY OF MAINE. 
321 
The business of taking scallops for shipment to western cities began in the fall of 
1884. In the early history of the industry the shipment of 50 gallons of meats in one 
day was considered very large. Since then the fishery has grown uninterruptedly 
and reached large proportions, and at times during the past five years as many as 
1,000 gallons have been in one day shipped from Castine by the fishermen of that town 
and Capo Eosier, while the yearly output in favorable years is over 5,000 gallons. 
Twenty-four men were engaged in this fishery in 1889, a larger number than had pre- 
viously been employed in the town in any one year. 
The fishermen of Cape Eosier frequent waters similar or adjacent to those of 
Little Deer Isle, and became interested in the fishery about the same time. Prom 
thirty-one to thirty-six persons have followed the business each year, the number in 
1889 being larger than in any previous season. 
Two fishermen from Sedgwick plied their operations in 1888 and 1889 on the same 
grounds visited by the Little Deer Isle fishermen, but did not engage in the fishery 
prior thereto. 
The history of the scallop fishery in the Sheepscot Eiver dates from 1887. It is 
stated that the existence of beds was accidentally ascertained by scallops becoming 
entangled in lobster traps. The discovery was immediately put to practical use. A 
fisherman of the town of Westport made a dredge adapted to bringing up scallops, 
and operated it with gratifying results in the river opposite that place. Within a short 
time other boats were fitted out from the various towns on the river, and the fishery 
was established on quite a large scale. Two years’ steady work on the extensive beds 
has failed to deplete them, and it seems probable that, with proper forethought on 
the part of the fishermen, the grounds will not be exhausted for many years, although 
the conditions for the perpetuation of a profitable fishery are not so favorable as would 
be afforded by deeper and less circumscribed beds. 
The principal fishing is now done by fishermen of Boothbay, Westport, Southport, 
Edgecomb, and Georgetown. The business has also engaged irregularly and to a very 
small extent a few fishermen from Newcastle and Wiscasset. In 1889 sixty-four j^ersons 
followed the fishery, of whom more than a third were from Boothbay. The number 
of fishermen has increased each year since the inauguration of the fishery ; and the 
quantity of scallops taken in 1889 was larger than the output of any other locality. 
There can be no doubt that large undiscovered beds of scallops exist, especially 
in the deeper waters, on various portions of the Maine coast, that will from time to 
time be discovered and become available when the present sources of supply are 
exhausted. The indefatigable “down East” fisherman will not be long in finding new 
grounds and applying improved methods of capture when the occasion requires, and 
the perpetuation of this profitable and unique fishery will be secured. 
The following ingenious explanation of the presence of scallops on the coast of 
Maine is from the Bucksport (Maine) Clipper of December 3, 1885 : 
The scallop found in such large quantities now along the coast of Maine is not an indigenous 
bivalve. It was brought here by the early French settlers and planted (in the sea) near their abodes. 
Its original home may have been the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near the Labrador coast, aud Straits of 
Belle Isle, and perhaps some came from the coast of France. It ought and is to he found the most 
plentiful near the sites of the old French settlements, such as Castine, Mount Desert, etc., which cor- 
roborates the above assertion. * * * 
This extract is reproduced simply to correct any impressions it may have made 
Bull. U. S. F. C. 89 21 
