THE OYSTER FISHERY OF CONNECTICUT. 
481 
The qiiaatity of oysters annaally shipped to Europe from Connecticut amounts to 
about three-fourths of the entire transatlantic export from America of this mollusk. 
The shipping season extends from November to May. The business is conducted on 
steamships plying between New York City and European ports. About nineteen 
twentieths of them go directly to Liverpool. The following statement shows the total 
exportation of oysters from New York to European ports from 1878-79 to 1888-89: 
Season, 
Barrels. 
Season. 
Barrels. 
1878-79 
50, 0C3 
67, 116 
70, 768 
65,012 
64, 437 
71, 021 
188+-85. 
98, 802 
98, 997 
100, 906 
99, 123 
103, 109 
1879 80 
1885 86 
1880 81 
1886-87 
1881 82 
1887 88 
1882 83 
1888-89 
1883-84 
Thereis a small trade with Canada. The oysters sent there are opened and shipped 
in tubs. Consignments leaving New Haven one day generally reach Montreal the 
next day. 
34. California trade . — Comparatively few Connecticut oysters are shipped to Cali- 
fornia; oysters intended for that market are sent mostly from Newark Bay and locali- 
ties farther south. 
35. Disposition of shells . — A small business is carried on in New Haven in burn- 
ing lime from oyster shells. About 80,000 bushels of shells are annually used for this 
purpose, of which 20,000 bushels are burned by the New Haven Gas Comiiauy. 
The average price is said to be $66 a carload of 600 bushels.* Thus the total value of 
this secondary product was $8,800. 
36. Methods of fishing . — The two methods of fishing in vogue in Connecticut are 
tonging and dredging; it is not deemed necessary to speak of these processes in 
detail, as many elaborate descriptions have been publi.shed. 
It may be mentioned that tonging is one of the oldest methods employed in America. 
Tonging from open boats is still prosecuted in Connecticut, particularly on the public 
beds, where the use of apparatus is restricted by law. 
Dredging is the most common and important method ; it is carried on very exten- 
sively on private grounds, and is the only system adapted to the cultivation of deep- 
water areas. Much improvement in this method has resulted from the introduction 
of screw steamers, which can tow four dredges and operate them by steam-power, 
whereas the sailing vessels can manage only two at most, and these must be slowly 
and laboriously operated by hand. 
On a sailing dredger the dredge is usually hove up by a small hand-driven winch, 
upon which the tow rope is wound. The oysters are dumped on deck for culling, or 
in exceptionally cold weather they are thrown into the hold to prevent freezing. 
On a steamer the process is quite different. When dredging, a section of the side 
of the deck house is removed, so that the oysters may be thrown on the main deck. 
As fast as the dredges are lifted they are swung in over the rail, their contents quickly 
emptied, and they are lowered again to the bottom for another load. This goes on 
continuously until the day’s fishing is over. It naturally follows that much material 
is dredged that has to be culled out from the more valuable part of the catch; perhaps 
* Report of Bureau of Labor Statistics, p. 134. 
Bull. U. S. E. C. 89 31 
