340 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
of about one-fourth acre, and was made by driving 2-inch by 12-inch hard-wood 
timbers into the ground about 2 inches aiiart on three sides of the pen, the beach 
forming the fourth side. The cost approximated $5,000. At one time the pen con- 
tained as many as G,600 sturgeon. The fish were usually not fed at all, even though 
retained four or five months, and little depreciation occurred either in weight or 
quality. Feeding them on corn was attemi)ted, but they did not appear to require 
it. The sturgeon were caught for removal by means of a short seine having a chain 
on the bottom. They had a tendency to burrow, and it was sometimes difficult to 
catch one even when there were a hundred or more in the pen. The business was 
highly successful until the decreasing supiily of these fish caused its abandonment 
about 1887. 
At several other points on the Great Lakes there Avere inclosures for retaining 
sturgeon, and at some of them a regular practice prevailed of feeding the fish on corn. 
In the fisheries of Forth and South Carolina it was formerly customary to provide 
pens in which sturgeon were coutined until a sufficient number had been accumulated 
for a ‘Giilling.” Some fishermen whose operations were less extensive, however, did 
not resort to building a pen, but would merely jiass a rope through the lower jaw of 
each fish and fasten the other end to some convenient fixture. 
The trap fishermen of Ehode Island have large pounds, made of twine, and some- 
times CO feet square and 30 feet deep, in which scrip and other fish are held for two or 
three months. Sometimes 12,000 barrels of fish are there held for a month or two. 
Tlie trap fishermen of other localities sometimes have a similar contrivance on the 
back of each trap net, in which a few barrels of fish may be held for several weeks. 
Quantities of striped bass and perch Avere formerly kept alive for a Aveek or more in 
southern DelaAvare by inclosing them in pens built of pine logs along the river banks. 
On the coast of Maine there are several inclosed coves or jronds for confining 
lobsters several months, if necessary, the principal ones being at Vinal Haven, South- 
port, House Island, South Pond, Prospect Harbor, and Frieudshii). Their form and 
adaptability dej)eud on the coastal formation. The first one was established at Vinal 
Haven, in Penobscot Bay, in 1875, by Messrs. Johnson & Young, of Boston, and that 
is yet the largest and most successful on the coast. It is the small end of a cove 
covering about 500 acres, communicating with the sea through a 150-foot channel, in 
which the tidal range is about 10 feet and the depth from 30 to 180 feet, averaging 
about 90 feet. Theiuclosure deAmted to lobsters covers about 9 acres, and is separated 
from the large cove by a natural shoal surmounted by a stout wire fence about 200 feet 
long. Its bottom is of soft grayish mud and the water ranges from 1 0 to 60 feet in depth. 
It has a capacity for about 300,000 lobsters, but a smaller quantity usually does better. 
The capacity of the other lAonds or coves ranges from 25,000 to 200,000 lobsters. 
The lobsters are deposited in the iuclosures when the condition of the market 
Avarrants and are held for a higher price. They are fed quite regularly on cheap fresh 
fish of various kinds, principally split hake, hake heads, small cod, herring, flounders, 
bream, etc. Fat herring are not desirable for lobster food, as practical experience has 
shoAvn that they cause the lobsters to decrease in weight. For the same reason, when 
using hake, it is well to remoA^e the livers, as they are rather too oily. The quantity 
of food required depends largely on the temjjerature of the water, since lobsters do 
not eat as freely in cold water as in that of a higher temperature. The food should be 
AA-ell scattered over the pond, as throwing it in heaps causes the lobsters to congregate 
