324 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
work that can he done with vessels, it may be stated that, daring the period indi- 
cated, this schooner took 1,400 bushels of scallops. 
It should be remembered that even when vessels are used the actual fishing is 
done from small boats carried for the ijurpose, the vessel simply serving as a lodging 
place for the crew and to freight the catch to the shipping point. The usual com- 
plement of a vessel engaged in this fishery is one boat to every two men of the crew, 
the boats ordinarily being dories, pea-pods, and other common types. 
It may be of interest in this place to point out what appear to be some of the 
advantages and disadvantages of vessels and boats in this fishery. When the industry 
is carried on primarily from boats the men are forced to make short trips, are inter- 
rupted in their operations by rough weather, and are obliged to return to shore to 
shuck and otherwise prepare the catch for shipment. On the other hand, with a ves- 
sel anchored on the grounds, the facilities for taking care of the catch are as good as 
those on shore, there is less time lost in landing the products, time can be economized 
by “weathering” moderate storms and resuming operations as soon as fishing be- 
comes possible, ice can be carried with which to preserve the catch until a full fare 
is secured, better opportunity is afforded for getting the scallops to the shipping place, 
and in various other ways it would appear that the vessel or decked boat is, on the 
whole, more serviceable and efficacious. The advantage is not so great, however, 
when the fishing grounds are inshore or adjacent to the point of shipment. 
No special types of boats are employed in the shore fishery. There are few scallop 
fishermen that do not at some period during the year engage in other branches of the 
fisheries, and the same boat is employed for both purposes. The scallop boats, there- 
fore, are the ordinary forms found in the region, varying with the localities in which 
the fishery is prosecuted. Consequently we find that in the Mount Desert and Little 
Deer Isle sections, pea-pods are the prevailing class, while farther west dories are 
in most common use. In the vicinity of Castine and Cape Rosier tlfe employment 
of small, decked, sloop-rigged boats has recently been increasing, the number at the 
latter place having advanced from 1 in 1887 to 6 in 1889. On the Sheepscot River the 
favorite form of craft is also a sloop-rigged boat. The pea-pods and dories have an 
average value of $15, and the decked boats range in price from $100 to $200, those in 
the Sheepscot River being, as a class, the most expensive. 
Generally speaking, the larger a boat the less serviceable it is in this fishery, other 
things being equal. This is especially true where rowing is the method of propulsion 
and sailing is not followed at all or is only supplemental to it. When sailing is chiefly 
followed, the objections to a craft of large size are not so potent, np to a certain limit. 
It is said that there are considerable difficulties in the way of properly operating a 
boat over 25 feet in length, and the fishermen in most localities prefer a much smaller 
one. In the eastern portion of the scallop territory, that is, between Castine and 
Mount Desert Island, the fishermen consider the most useful kind of a boat to be about 
16 feet in length. 
In 1888, it is reported that a man in the vicinity of Castine employed a small 
steamer in the scallop fishery, but unsuccessfully, and the attempt was abandoned. 
10. THE FISHING GEOUNDS. 
{a) Location of the beds . — All the scallop beds, the existence of which was known 
and on which the fishermen operated in 1889, are shown on the accompanying map. 
