166 
J-ane 12 
REPORT 0\ AMERICAN FISHERIES. 
The report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics on 
the Commerce and Navigation of the United States, 
for the year ending June 30, 1874, contains some in- 
teresting notices in respect to the American fisheries, 
although, unfortunately, not so complete as those made 
up by France and some other countries in Europe. The 
results are condensed in the following table: 
Clcui. 
ARTICLES. 
Value. 
1 
GBOCP I.— PRODUCE OP A.JIERICAN' 
WHAIoE FISHERIES. 
i 
Rm.SM « 10VIQS7 
O 
Other Whale Oil (Gal.) 
1,377,401 
342.221 
775,919 
264,990 
3 
Whalebone or Baleen, split or uufiplit 
(lbs.) 
Total 
* 2.’29I,S96 
8 
GROUP TI. — PRODUCE OP OTHER 
A3IERICA1«' FISHERIES. 
850.7.33 
3.694.4S3 
2,522,766 
199,209 
202,624 
9 
418.‘i27 
10 
134,552 
n 
71,f>3« 
11.030 
1'2 
8,620 
i3 
372,930 
1,103,169 
699.121 
iT 
31,777,666 
15 
1,405,745 
47.741 
18 
12,083 
19 
15.966 
9;h617 
224,’235 
fiS,676 
20 
21 
23,398 
S 9,5.-2,553 
Total value of the products of Ameri- 
can fisheries 
?11. 814.449 
These figures are of course far within the mark, and 
only contain cargoes actually passing through the Cus- 
tom House from foreign ports, but taken on American 
vessels. 
The number and tonnage of vessels registered as em- 
ployed in the Cod and Mackerel Fisheries on the 30th 
of June, 1874, is as follows: 
State. 
Maine 
IJew Hampshire 
Haseacbaseits 
Bhode Island 
Connecticat 
BewYork 
California 
AVashington Temtory. 
Total 
yuiitber 
of Ve^s«L<. 
Tone. 
26 
i.o-je 
98 
176 
1.33 
17 
3 
16,782.31 
917.06 
4.9,578.92 
1.381.31 
4,393.10 
4,486.60 
7-34.13 
46.58 
- 2,099 
78,290.01 
Number and tonnage of vessels employed in the AYhale 
Fisheries of the United States on the 30th of June, 1874: 
CueUane hUtncte. 
Barnstable. Mass.. 
Edgartown, Mass.. 
?<ew Bedford. Mass 
^ew London 
Ifew London 
Sag Harbor. X. Y. . 
San Francisco 
Total. 
Ve.»t(lg. 
Tons. 
15 
1 
1-26 
(.Sail) 16 
(Steam) 1 
1 
1,3.64.58 
182.87 
34.5X7. -20 
2,628.22 
106.68 
116 .37 
131.68 
16> 
39.107.80 
LOBSTER CATCHIAG. 
How are lobsters caught? ^Jluch as we all relish that 
toothsome crustacean, few people are aware of its mode 
of capture. As I have passed man}' seasons among the 
lobster-men of New England, while pursuing the wild 
fowl of that coast, I will describe it. Lobsters abound 
all along Massachusetts Bay, from Cape Ann to Cape 
Cod, affording emplo 3 'ment to thousands of poor and 
hard}' fishermen. Each catcher occupies from a half 
mile to a mile of shore, setticg out from si-Kty to one 
hundred traps. These he makes or buj’s during the 
winter season, and at the first approach of spring he 
plants them along the deep waters of the shore on rocky 
bottom. During inese idle mouths he whittles out mil- 
lions of little pine wood pegs, with which to plug the 
nippers of each lobster as fast as taken. This is a neces- 
8ar\- precaution to prevent them from biting and de- 
stroying each other when dep<>sitc<l^in the stationarj- cars, 
which are anchored near the shore to contain the fish, 
until the lobster smack shall call for them. The lobster 
trap in shape and size is much like a Saratoga trunk, 
and is made from slips of oak or hickory, and is about 
three feet in length, by two and a half in depth and 
width. The frames are formed of sticks, one inch 
and a half thick, and are perforated with holes, in 
which are inserted the cross pieces, which are round 
and slender as gun rods. At either end is made a tun- 
nel, formed of elastic rattan, which allows the lobster 
to crawl into the trap after the^ait; but bj- instantly clos- 
ing up prevents their escape. A small trap door is con- 
structed in the upper part, which the fisherman opens 
to pass in the bait. This is suspended by means of a 
large hook in the centre of the trap. Tiie door is 
opened, the hook baited, and the lobster withdrawn 
from the trap and deposited in the boat, To the side of 
each trap is tied a stone of sufficient weight to sink it to 
the bottom and to keep it secureh- there. The traps are 
sunk in water some thirty feet deep, and are placed at 
intervals of forty yards apart, and in a doable row. A 
stout line is attached to each trap, having at its other 
and a wooden buoj', which, floating on the surface, in- 
dicates the exact position of the trap. lie bails his 
trap with the head of a codfish, or a moss-bunker, or a 
piece of sting-ray or skat^, taken on his trawl, which is 
anchored out in very deep water, some two miles from 
shore, and which he visits and raises daily. This is all 
verj' hard work, as it is done with the oar, no sail being 
used. 
He uses for his labor a doi}’ boat, the veiy best craft 
that floats the wave. This is a light and handy boat, 
made of cedar or pine, seventeen feet long, sharp at the 
stem, narrow at the stern, and flaring outward in a way 
that throws off the sea, allowing not a drop to slop over 
inboaid. We have often floated securely, awaiting the 
flight of coot and other wild fowl, in a heavy' northeast 
sea, when the gallant boat would almost stand on end, 
or pitch right over, and yet not a pint full of water 
would come in the entire day to wet the pea-jacket or 
inundate the guns. 
The lobster fisher is an elrly bird, and begins his 
work at day dawn, commencing at one end of his line 
of buoys, and raising each trap in succession, taking 
out the enclosed lobsters, and re-baiting the hook. 
Having gone through with one row he turns about and 
rows through the other line of buoys, and having fin- 
ished his route, he rows in to his anchored car, to 
which he makes fast with his painter. He opens, 
with his gaff, the hinged door of his car, taking 
out from his boat his catch, one after the other, and de- 
positing it in the car, after first plugging it securely 
with his little peg. From long habit he handles them 
with impunity, though a bite from a big claw would be 
apt to make an uglj' wound, or snap off a finger. 
If he has taken some three hundred lobsters he smiles 
and thinks he has made a good day's work, receiving 
from the smack-man about three cents for each, little 
and big. The lobster vessel comes along about once in 
two weeks, and coming to anchor, sends in its yawl to 
buj’ and receive all that the car contains, amounting 
perhaps to two thousand fish. These smacks run along 
the entire coast of New England, stopping at each sta- 
tion to gather up their freight, which deposited in the 
open well of the smack, may be reasonably expected to 
reach the city markets of New York, Boston, etc., in 
good order. But it often happens in summer, owing to 
the heat and the delaying ealin.s, that the smack reaches 
the city market with its precious cargo, in a dead or 
dying condition, so that the whole must be dumped 
overboard into the dock, and the voyage prove a disas- 
trous failure. But if the smack has good luck, fair 
breezes and a quick run, it makes a profitable voyage, 
receiving a handsome price for its fish, which is more 
than doubled before it reaches the hands and pocket of 
the up-town purchaser. There is a very great difference 
between a lobster bought at Fulton market after it has 
been taken two weeks ago in eastern waters, and the 
article taken from its rocky feeding grounds and 
plumped into a kettle of scalding water, and then laid 
on the dinner table, flaming red, and of delicious flavor, 
all within a short half-hour. If you would enjoy your 
salad in perfection, go to the shore where the fish 
ranges its native pastures, and being taken and served 
up at once, has no time to pine aw.av- and lose the full- 
he.ss and freshness of its flesh. J. McL. 
The Rev. An'dhew Murdock, M. A., disconrsjs tliiis pleasantly on 
his first catfish in the I‘ai4e]i Ontario Adrocaie: 
Yes, a catfish: hnt let none of my rculers call to mind the insig- 
nificant little members of the ichthyic family, that swarm in the 
slnggish streams and lily crested ponds of Western Ontario. Think 
not of the squinning, sqneaking, wTiggiing creatures whoso homy 
sides were a standing nn-ii.tce to alt hare-fooled boys. Xo ! A 
catfish (Pitneto^l'u catagy only resembles the little bull heads of our 
boyhood, as the Great Eastern resembles a canal boat. My catfish 
weighed thirteen ami one luilf pounds! and yet it was captured at 
the end of a silk and hair Iront line; while tbe rod weighs only 14 
oz. And this is the way it was done. 
It was on a Monday he was canght. which fact is duly chronicled 
in my note book with a flourish. Monday — day of rest for weary 
preachers;— day to be spent amid the solemn aisles of that temple 
'■ not made with hands" — Monday — doubly sweet as we drove along 
the banks of the s^vift-flowing river, with the dreamy odors of a May 
morning breathing in onr faces. The place selected for our opera- 
tions was a quiet cove just above a spot where the water broke over 
the pebbly bottom in a series of ripples. Here, under the shade of 
some branching sycamores, my friend and I deposited our lunch 
baskets and jointed onr rods. We were after black bass; and from 
past experience we knew we should find them in the pool.s below. 
In bass fishing, as fur trout, fine tackle should b° used. It is just as 
unsportsmanlike to fish for bass with the rod and line you use for 
maskelonge, as it is to murder deer with buck shot. There is no 
sort of sense in lifting a bass by mam strength from the water. The 
tackle I use is 10 feet, light fly ro-1. and silk and hair line. That 
rod has been ray companion on many a happy day. It has bent 
under the strain of the splendid trout of the Megantic Lakes, and 
the speckled beauties of your own riangeen and Beaver rivers. For 
bait we use minnows; and a “ bob " is attached a few feet distant 
from the hook, whieh serves the double purpose of preventing the 
line from settling to the bottom and of indicating the moment the 
bait is taken. 
After having secured a fine string of bass, my companion was left 
to continue the spot t in the cove already mentioned, while I started 
down the river bank to fish the pools below. In vain I tried the 
various eddies; not a fish could be tempted from its biding place by 
the “insidious snare” of a wriggling minnow until I had travelled 
some distance from my companion. Here was a spot which looked 
particularly promising. The Spring freshet had uprooted several 
large trees, aud loged them against the steep clay bank. The pool 
below them looked as if it might be the lurking place of some bass 
of giant strength and patriarchal age. Selecting my largest minnow 
I threw it far into the current, and watched with all a fisherman’s 
eagerness the tell-tale “bob” as it went slowly floating down the 
stream toward the dark pool of the old sycamore root. Birds twit- 
tered in the trees around me, but I heard them not; flowers bloomed 
along the river margin, but I saw them not; my eye was on that 
bob. I have not long to wait; the bob begins to tremble; one mo- 
ment it disappears, nest it is floating undisturbed on the bosom of 
the waters. The fish is cautious ; he is of a decidedly investigating 
turn of mind. He won’t be fooled ; no, not he. But that minnow 
does look so tempting. Four times the bob goes down; four times 
the fish relinquishes his hold and the bob comes to the top. Has ho 
seen through the device? Xol down goes the bob with a rush, in 
the direction of mid-stream. Don’t strike yet! Pay out the line! 
Give him time to gorge the bait. Xow then! and with a rash the 
maddened fish makes for the farther shore. How the reel spins as 
yard by yard of the silk line disappears beneath the waters! A 
glance at the reel shows the alarming fact that the long line is nearly 
expended; something must be done. Give him the butt of the rod. 
How it bends under the strain! How the line hums like the strings 
of an -Eolian harp (bless the man that made them both.) A tre- 
mendous splash in mid river, the glance of a long, white belly, the 
flap of a broad, black tail, and my heart beats fast as I recognize the 
work that is before me. Xot a three pound bass, but a monster cat 
fish is at the end of the gossamer line! Keeping the line taut it is 
reeled rapidly in, and the fish’s head turned toward the shore. 
.\Vliat if the line should stick in the rings? What if the reel should 
refuse to work? The very thought is agonizing. Suddenly there 
is another splash and a frantic rush to gain the tangled roots of the 
fallen sycamore. Agiin the steady strain of the bending tip frus- 
trates the attempt, and again the fish beads up stream; the gaping 
mouth indicating waning strength. 
But now the difificnlties of the situation begin to present them- 
selves. The bank rises six feet straight op from the water, which is 
of unknown depth, close in to the shore. Xo shoal water into 
which I might lead my captive; no way of getting near enough to 
strike the fish, nothing within reach to strike him with if 1 could 
so approach. In vain I shunt for my friend to come to the rescue. 
In vain I seek to find a foothold on tuC slipiiery margin of the pool. 
I am getting tired, and the tired fish is recovering. In a lucky 
moment I discovered a large block of clay which had fallen from 
the bank, and lay partially submerged in the water A piece of broken 
plank lay within reach, and this is dropped on the mud below, 
and as I gain a footing on the margin of the water light begins to 
dawn. Armed with a stone, the fish is reeled gently in, until his 
black head emerges from the water dose to my feet, on which 
afore.said Mack head a stunning blow is administered; — that is, a 
blow which would have been stunning for any other fish, but the 
effect of which on the catfish was to send him rushing to the depths 
of the stream with thirty feet of line. But the game is now draw- 
ing to a close, and as again the fish is turned toward my frail stand- 
ing place, my hand is thrust into his gills, and, tightly gra.sped, he 
is borne in triumph to the bank above, to be greeted with looks of 
amazement from my pointer •’ Xed,” who had with wonderment 
watched the black monster as he struggled in his vain attempts to 
break the line. He knows all about quail aud snipe, but like his 
master, this was his first skirmish with a catfish. 
The Cecil (Md.) Whig says: Fishing is pretty well over, but still 
the gillers continue to cast their nets. Our fish laws are very nearly 
useless for the object they were intended, there being no person to 
see to tlieir enforcement. Pish and game laws are a dead failarc 
without associations whose bifsincss it is made to have laws passed 
that will meet the case and then, as corporate bodies enforce those 
salutary laws. Xotwithstaiiding the law is very jilain against all 
manner of suakc nets, i here were double as many pound nets fished 
this spring as last, we are assured by persons living on the rivers 
aud in sight of the fishing grounds. The catch of shad by all of the 
hauling seines, as far as we run learn, has been very good, but the 
herring fishing has been almost a failure. A single instance of the 
destruction of the young fish, which is caused by the pound nets, 
may serve to give some idea of the slaughter that is made by that 
mode of fishing in the course ol the summer. A friend informed ns 
a few ilays ago, that one of the pound-net fishermen emptied nine 
liaskets full of small fish on the shore near his place. Immense 
quantities of spawn of various species of fish arc destroyed hy an un- 
controlled system of fishing in the tide-water rivers, while the old 
fish ia the spawning season arc trapped without mercy for the mar- 
ket. By a judicious protection onr rivers would famish ten fish 
where one is taken under the suicidal mode which has ever been 
pursued, but before such benefit can be hoped for, we will have to 
have l.-iws framed by men who have made the nature and habits of 
fish a study, and associations for the protection of game and fish 
will have to be formed to enforce the laws and educate public opin- 
ion The system which will add two fish to the food supply where 
one is now consumed, is woi thy to be classed with that industry 
which makes two blades of grass grow where but one grew'before. 
Wants and eschanges— a good, medium for advertisers at alow 
price. 
