Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/240

 232 FISHERIES to 1790 the number of vessels was 539 of 19,185 tons, employing 3,278 men, and the ex- ports were 108,600 quintals to Europe and 142,050 quintals to the West Indies. Herring are taken to some extent in the rivers and bays from North Carolina northward, though the erection of mills and dams has driven them from many localities which they formerly frequented. American vessels, chiefly from Gloucester, Mass., the great fishing port of the country, visit New Brunswick, Newfoundland, the Magdalen islands, and Labrador for that fish, while the halibut fishery is pursued to some extent from that port on George's and the western banks and at Greenland. Exten- sive menhaden fisheries have sprung up within the last 15 years on Long Island, and at other points along the coast from New Jersey to Maine. The oil obtained from this fish is much used by leather dressers, and the scrap or ref- use is a valuable ingredient in the manufacture of fertilizers for the exhausted cotton lands of the south. It is estimated that in 1873 2,000,- 000 gallons of oil, valued at $900,000, and 40,000 tons of scrap, worth $640,000, were produced. Oysters are found particularly in Chesapeake and Delaware bays, from which they are brought in large quantities and planted in the vicinity of New York city, where they acquire a peculiar flavor. Turtle are abundant in the waters sur- rounding the Florida keys, and the catch is of considerable value. Besides the sea fisheries, the river and lake fisheries of the United States are of great importance. There are valuable shad fisheries in the Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, Potomac, and other rivers falling into the Atlantic. The great lake fisheries are those of Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior. The whitefish is the principal object of pur- suit, though trout, pickerel, and lake herring are caught in large quantities. The waters of the Pacific, N. of California, abound in valu- able fish, the fisheries of Alaska being of vast extent and great productiveness. Cod is the chief object of pursuit, but halibut and herring are also numerous. In 1864, 1 vessel was fitted out from San Francisco for the northern cod fishery; in 1865, 7; in 1866, 18; in 1867, 23; in 1868, 19; in 1869, 27; in 1870, 33. They frequent mainly the banks in the vicinity of Kadiak and the Shumagin and Fox islands, though the Okhotsk sea is occasionally visited. From 1864, when the business commenced, to 1870, 276,414 quintals of fish, valued at $2,457,- 414, were caught; the product of 1870 was 94,750 quintals, worth $754,840. The fishery is pursued during the summer. Several species of salmon, including the king salmon (oncho- rhynchus orientalis), which frequently weighs from 60 to 90 Ibs., swarm in the Yukon and other Alaskan rivers. The salmon fisheries of the Columbia river are of great value. In 1872 the number of fish preserved was 332,000, weighing 5,300,000 Ibs., and worth $359,000, of which 2,700,000 Ibs. were canned, and 2,600,000 Ibs. pickled. The following table TONNAGE. YEARS. Cod fl.hery. Mackerel fishery. Total. 1791 82542 1801 . 89,882 1811 . 43234 1821 62293 1831 60,978 46,211 107,189 1841 66552 11,321 77,873 1851 95617 50539 146 156 1861 137 666 54795 192 461 1862 123 601 80,596 204,197 1863 117 290 51019 168 309 1864 103,742 55,499 159,241 1865 65,185 41,209 106 394 1866 51 642 46589 98231 1867 44,567 81,498 76,065 1868 83887 1869 62,704 1870 91,460 1871 92865 1872 97547 1878 109 518 exhibits the tonnage employed in the fisheries in the United States at various periods since 1790, the cod and mackerel fisheries prior to 1831 and since 1867 not being separated: From- 1850 to 1862 the number of vessels ranged from 2,414 to 3,815 (in the latter year) ; in 1868 the number was 2,220; in 1869, 1,714; in 1870, 2,292 ; in 1871, 2,426 ; in 1872, 2,385. In the last mentioned year 1,486 vessels of 87,- 403 tons were above 20 tons each, and 899 with a tonnage of 10,144 under 20 tons each ; 666 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 18,- 790, belonged to Maine; 45, of 3,419 tons, to New Hampshire; 1,301, of 68,263 tons, to Massachusetts ; 76, of 868 tons, to Rhode Isl- and; 169, of 4,392 tons, to Connecticut; and 128, of 1,815 tons, to New York. In 1873 the number of vessels was 2,453, and the tonnage was distributed as follows: Massachusetts, 54,- 188; Maine, 46,196 ; Connecticut, 4,193; New York, 1,771; California, 1,177; Rhode Island, 1,071 ; New Hampshire, 922. There were 187 vessels of 44,755 tons engaged in the whale fishery. Of the number of fishing boats em- ployed from the shore there are no accurate statistics. The number of seamen employed in the cod and mackerel fisheries in 1859 was 21,758; in 1862, 28,048; in 1864, 21,925; in 1868, 28,250. The tables of occupations in the census of 1870 include 27,106 fishermen and oystermen, but the returns are admitted to be imperfect, large numbers of persons engaged wholly or partially in fishing being returned as sailors, agriculturists, &c. The value in round numbers of the products of the national fish- eries of all kinds, as returned in the censuses, was $12,000,000 in 1840, and $10,000,000 in 1850. The tables of fisheries in 1860 include 422 establishments in the whale fishery, having a capital of $13,292,060; value of materials used, $2,789,060; number of hands employed, 12,301; wages paid, $3,509,080 ; value of pro- duct, $7,749,305 : oyster fishery, 427 establish- ments, $498,252 capital, $452,250 materials, 2,271 hands, $446,656 wages, and $1,410,497