14nr.G 1^1 CZX^ ^^-^^—'^J^^^^;^ K^;*''' t^^ itate of ^fjolie |s(artir nnQ '^xobititmt |pin;nlatioits. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COillSSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES, MADE TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, JANUAKY SESSION, 1892. PROVIDENCE: E. L. FREEMAN & SON, STATE PRINTERS 1892. REPORT. To the Honorable General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at its January Sessioyi^ 1892 : The Commissioners of Inland Fisheries herewith present their annual report for the year 1891. Shad. The Commissioners of Inland Fisheries received from Col. Mar- shall McDonald, United States Fish Commissioner, two million sixty thousand (2,060,000) shad fry May 4th, 1891. These were deposited in Palmer river, which is the only stream in the State adapted to them, not having insurmountable dams or other obstructions. Trout. We have purchased forty thousand (40,000) trout eggs, which were hatched and the fry has been placed in various streams of the State. The trout fishing the past season has not been as good as last year, owing in part to excessive fishing last year, and lower state of water. The Bay and coast fisheries the past season has in some respects been peculiar ; all along the coast the blue-fish and small mackerel have been abundant, while in the bay, scup, tautog, flat-fish and small mackerel have been present in large numbers. 4 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. The herring and the bass have failed to appear in numbers. The menhaden fishing has been very light. The catch is indicated in the table of shipments as follows. The following table shows the amount of fish and lobsters shipped from Newport by the Old Colony Steamboat and Railroad for each month of the year 1891 : Month. Fish. Lobsters. January 23 Barrels. 44 Barrels. February 51 " 48 March 61 " 62 April 288 " 227 May 12,174 " 236 June 3,010 " 317 July 1,072 " 542 August 610 " 401 September 353 " 265 October 268 " 24 November 100 ' ' 5 December 22 " 33 Total 18,032 " 2,204 Total of fish and lobsters shipped from Newport by the Old Colony lines : 1886 17,434 Barrels. 1887 '. 17,491 1888 16,194 1889 21,353 " 1890 11,583 1891 20,236 " For further statistics of the fisheries of Rhode Island we copy from the Statistical Review of the Coast Fisheries, published by United States Commission, 1891. REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONERS OP INLAND FISHERIES. 5 RHODE ISLAND. The tables presented show many phases of the fisheries not similarly exhibited in the statistics of 1880; it is difficult therefore to institute comparisons in all cases. There has been a large decrease in persons employed, amounting to 26 per cent , and an increase of 78 per cent, in capital invested and 18 per cent, in the catch. This is due to the improvement in the vessels, especially those em- ployed in menhaden fishing, in the menhaden factories, and in the pound-net and trap fisheries. There is not much difference in the value of menhaden ves- sels ; in the aggregate fewer vessels are now employed, but these are of an im- proved type, and, with fewer men, perform the same work that was done by a larger fleet in 1880. There has been a gratifying increase in the menhaden industry, the manufac- tured products of which in 1880 were valued at $221,748, while in 1888 the amount was $834,686, This is the most important fishery of the State, taking the value of the manufactured products as a basis, but is excelled by the oyster in- dustry, if we consider only the amount paid to fishermen for their catch. With the exception of the menhaden industry, there is no important vessel fishery; the craft employed are generally small and engaged in shore or market fishing. 48. Table of persons employed. How engaged. 1887. 1888. On fishing vessels >......, .... ........ . ... 364 14 915 342 400 On transporting vftssels ........ 17 On boatfB • 875 On shore, in factories, etc 411 Total 1,635 1,703 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 49. Table of apparatus and capital. Designation. Vessels fishing * Outfit Vessels transporting t Outfit Boats Apparatus of capture — vessel fisheries : Purse seines Hand lines and trawl lines Gill nets Harpoons Pots Dredges, rakes, etc Apparatus of capture — shore fisheries : Haul seines Hand lines and trawl lines Trap nets and pound nets Fyke nets Gill nets Dredges, tongs, etc Pots Miscellaneous apparatus Shore property Cash capital Total . 1887. No. 55 743 17 20 175 72 160 354 99 999 5,600 Value. $171,400 23,281 2,550 530 t 91,324 10,950 1,750 30 300 350 919 2,900 180 72,400 2,570 6,270 7,483 6,798 12 348,264 242,500 1888. No. 64 9 32 225 75 42 374 493 5,450 $992,761 $1,022 Value. $194,150 ' 29,085 9 ' 3,225 .... ! 510 749 J 91,679 10,800 1,555 90 450 975 2,900 179 79,870 2,670 6,090 2,950 6,723 10 353,485 235,000 * Tonnage in 1887, 1,221.21; in 1888, 1,349.60. j Tonnage in 1887, 105.30; in 1888, 131.91. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 50. Table of produets. SpecJee. Alewives , Alewives, salted Alewives, smoked Bluefish Butterfish Cod Cod, salted Eels Flounders , Haddock Haddock, salted Kingfish Mackerel Mackerel, salted Menhaden Perch Pollock, salted Scup Sea bass Shad Smelts Squeteague Striped bass Swordfish Tautog Miscellaneous fish Refuse fish Lobsters Crabs Oysters Clams (Mya arenaria) Quohaugs ( Venus mercenaria) . Scallops Total 1887. Pounds. 682,800 325,000 130,000 321,650 266,000 204,394 82,558 318,000 426,300 87,450 4,464 8,000 268,063 500,200 34,035,000 61,000 50,960 3,030,033 497,800 16,700 55,000 268,000 61,200 101,452 182,000 83,545 860,000 570,039 4,800 1,358,210 268,250 153,720 11,284 45,284,872 Value. $10,250 6,500 2,250 22,305 9,320 6,499 3,754 16,950 11,406 2,468 147 320 18,545 28,541 85,088 2,440 1,752 75,545 13,090 1,247 2,875 10,450 5,324 4,430 7,200 1,289 1,090 27.128 1,200 261,026 25,030 15,699 2,337 Pounds. 666,800 415,000 150,000 388,850 283,000 253,250 53,140 321,600 558,000 86,460 4,704 8,500 237,100 303,800 78,269,800 60,000 50,400 4,207,700 512,400 17,400 61,500 275,000 85,500 217,063 187,450 122,361 1,396,000 588,500 4,000 1,324,785 308,250 264,232 4,942 $683,495 i 91,687,487 Value. $10,215 8,500 2,450 23,140 9,810 7,653 2,009 17,332 13,290 2,607 118 298 20,007 23,624 195,277 2,400 1,800 84,480 15,504 1,213 3,135 11,540 7,048 9,718 7,608 1,677 1,756 28,047 1,000 252,601 30,030 28,075 1,130 825.092 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 51. Summary by customs districts of the vessel fisheries of Rhode Island in 1SS7 and 1888. Designation. Newport. Bristol and Warren. Providence. Total. 1887. 18S8. 1887. 1888. 1887 1 1888. 1887. 1888. Number and nationality of fishermen : Americans • • • 300 330 10 14 48 6 56 3r,8 4.nft j 1 6 300 330 10 1 1 Total i 14 i .14 56 364 400 Number and nationality of crews on transports : 14 17 14 17 i Number of vessels fish- ing Number of vessels trans- 35 7 40 9 5 6 15 18 55 7 64 9 Net tonnage of vessels fishing Net tonnage of vessels 1,045.71 105 30 1,089.63 43.25 48.52 132.25 211.45 1,221.21 105.30 1,349.60 131.91 Value of vessels fishing.. Value of vessels trans- porting Value of outfit, gear, pro- visions, fuel, etc., of vessels fishing" .... $155,100 2,550 34,555 $166,350 3,225 37,785 510 239,922 13,840 $2,900 $5,200 S13,400 $22,600 $171,400 2,550 37,580 $194,150 3,225 43,435 510 475 1,225 2,550 4,425 Value of provisions, fuel, etc., of vessels trans- porting.. ...... 530 174,123 12,400 Value of catch of vessels fishing ! 128,407 Value of products trans- ported 1 i5 4.nn 3,060 7,870 42,656 45,271 293,063 13,840 ! REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 53. Table shoicing by apparatus and species the yield of the vessel fisheries of Rhode Island in 18S7 and 18S8. Apparatus and species. 1887. 1888. Pounds. Value. Pounds. Value. Hand lines and trawl lines : Blue fish 12,150 133,894 66,878 80,950 4,464 43,063 324,200 $709 4,329 3,054 2,313 147 3,545 17,981 42,200 180,250 38,580 80,460 4,704 29,300 167.800 3,950 $1,962 5,408 1,359 2,462 118 2,637 13,424 158 Cod Cod, salted Haddock Haddock, salted . Mackerel Mackerel, salted Tautog Total 665,599 $32,078 547,244 $27,528 Seines : Mackerel 4,000 78,269,800 4,361 360 195,277 97 Menhaden .... 34,035,000 7,045 85,088 141 Miscellaneous fisb .... Total 34,042,045 $85,229 78,278,161 $195,734 Gill nets : Bluefish 650 4,000 1,700 30 360 50 Mackerel Scup 2,833 85 Total . , ... 2,833 $85 6,350 $440 Harpoons : 101,452 $4,430 217,063 $9,718 Pots : Eels 4,100 38,500 $249 2,047 jjobsters .. 20,039 1,128 Total 20,039 $1,128 42,600 $2,203 Dredges and rakes : Oysters .... 239,710 33,720 11,284 284,714 $45,887 2,949 2,337 281,288 24,238 4,942 $53,645 2,575 1,130 Quohaugs Scallops Total ... $51,173 310,468 $57,350 Grand total 35,116,682 $174,123 79,401,886 $293,063 10 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 53. TaUe showing by fisheries and species the yield of vessel fisheries of Rhode Island in 1888. Fisheries and species. Pounds. 1 Value. [ Fisheries and species. Pounds. Value. Shore : Bluefish 42,850 180,250 38,580 4,100 80,460 4,704 1,700 3,950 1 $1,992 5,408 1,359 • 246 ! 2,462 1 118 50 158 Mackerel : Mackerel 37,300 167,800 4,361 $3,357 Cod Cod salted Mackerel, salted.... Miscellaneous fish - . Total 13,424 97 ■RpIs Haddock 209,461 $16,878 Haddock, salted Mollusk : Oysters Quobaugs 281,288 24,238 4,942 Tautog $53 645 2,575 356,594 $11,79S 1,130 Total Total Grand total Swordfish 217,063 78,269,800 38,500 $9,718 1 195,277 j 2,047 j 310,468 $57,350 Menhaden Lobster — 79,401,886 $293,063 54. Table showing the mnnher of vessels engaged in each fishery in Rhode Island in 1888, together with their tonnage, value, and number of crew. Fishery. Number of vessels engaged. Net ton- nage. \e88ei8. men.* Mackerel . . • 30 375.95 770.00 243.91 210.89 17.55 191.36 $43,500 136,000 20,800 25,250 1,600 24,300 119 12 21 16 22 225 80 Swordfish Crustacean Mollusk...! 60 9 53 AH American citizens. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 11 55. Table allowing by apjmratus and species the yield of the shore fisheries of Rhode Island in 18S7 and 18S8, exclusive of the shellfish and crustacean fisheries. Apparatus. Pound nets. Gill nets. Species. Fyke nets . Pots Haul seines Alewives Alewives, salted... Alewives, smoked. Bluefish Butterfish Eels .. Flounders Kingfish Scup Sea bass . . Shad..' Smelt Squeteague Striped bass Tautog Miscellaneous fish* Refuse fishf Total .... ... Bluefish Butterfish Squeteague Total Flounders Eels Alewives 1887. Pounds. 681,^00 10,000 80,000 53,500 262,000 75,000 313,300 8,000 3,027,200 485,300 7,500 40,000 252,000 50,000 25,000 76,500 860,000 Value. $10,230 200 1,250 3,076 9,240 3,000 8,566 320 75,460 12,640 562 2,000 9,660 4,250 950 1,148 1,090 6,307,100 I $143,642 218,500 1,000 $16,170 20 410 228,500 I $16,600 93,000 198.000 $2,410 12,250 1.000 I 20 Pounds. 664,300 15,600 95,000 65,800 277,700 111,000 408,000 8,500 4,206,000 496,300 8,400 42,200 255,850 73,000 52,000 118,000 1,396,000 8,293,650 230,700 1,800 10,650 243,150 125,800 161,000 2.500 Value. $10,170 325 1,552 3,948 9,704 5,994 9,545 298 84,430 14,976 588 2,153 10,692 6,032 2,070 1,580 1,756 $165,813 $13,842 373 $14,251 $3,145 8,635 45 * Miscellaneous fish includes the cheaper grades of food-fishes, as flatfish, flounders, scup, sque- teague, etc., which have been taken in small quantities and shipped without regard to quantities of diflerent species; also, species of infrequent occurrence not suliiciently important to separate. t Principally sculpin and menhaden used in the production of oil and fertilizer, and a few other species unfit for market because of their small size or deterioration in quality. 12 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND J^ISHERlEg. 55. TaUe shoicing by apparatus and species the yield, &c. — Contiuued. Apparatus. Haul seines. Species. Alewives, salted... Alewives, smoked. Bluefish Butterfish Eels... Flounders Perch or cunners . . Sea bass Shad Smelt Squeteague Striped bass... — Tautog Total. Lines. Bluefish Cod Cod, salted Flounders , Haddock Mackerel Mackerel, salted. Pollock Sea bass Tautog Total Grand total . 1887. Pounds. 315,000 50,000 2,500 3,000 45,000 6,000 61,000 500 9,200 15,000 7,000 11,200 5,000 531,400 35,000 7IJ|500 15,680 14,000 6,500 225,000 176,000 50,960 12,000 152,000 Value. $6,300 1,000 250 60 1,700 120 2,440 20 685 875 380 1,074 250 $15,174 S2,100 2,170 700 310 155 15,000 10,560 1,752 430 6,000 757,640 $39,177 8.115,640 I $229,253 Pounds. Value 399,400 55,000 4,000 3,500 45,500 8,000 60,000 600 9,000 19,300 8,500 12,500 6,2.50 634,050 45,500 73,000 14,560 16,200 6,000 199,800 136,000 50,400 15,500 125,250 682,210 10,139,860 $8,175 898 400 70 2,457 200 2,400 24 625 982 475 1,016 312 $18,079 S2,958 2,245 650 40*0 145 16,650 10,200 1,800 504 5,068 $40,620 $250,543 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 13 56. Table showing the extent of the menhaden industry of Rhode Island. Designation.. Number of factories in operation Value of factories Amount of cash capital Number of shoresmen employed Number of fishermen employed Number of steam vessels employed Net tonnage Value Value of outfit Number of sailing vessels employed in fishing Net tonnage Value Value of outfit Number of sailing vessels employed as " carryaways " Net tonnage Value Value of outfit Number of menhaden handled Value to fishermen Number of gallons of oil made Value as sold Number of tons of scrap produced Value as sold , . . . 3 $193,000 $69,000 177 222 11 766.88 $126,000 $30,000 1 27.50 $1,500 $1,000 3 42.32 $1,400 $180 60,901,670 $73,072 538,623 SI 29 ,539 3,810 $81,010 $193,000 $70,000 246 225 11 747.56 $135,000 $29,000 1 22.44 $1,000 $700 5 64.08 $1,825 $265 127,169,670 $155,004 762,360 168,418 8,551 $166,268 Blue-Fish came upon our coast the middle of June and remained until the last of October. Their abundance in the waters from Monhegan Island, Me.,, to the capes of the Delaware has been simply wonderful. Captain Church writes us "that he could have caught more this season with a purse net than he did of menhaden, and of the latter he took about 30,000 barrels. That it made little difference where you went, they were there in large schools." He adds: " Yet some people say they 14 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. are all caught up. I wish they were, for they are the terror of nearly all other kinds of fish." Bass. There has been a marked falling off in the number of these king of fish to the sportsman from last year. Their failure this year has been attributed to different causes, by some to the dumping of garbage near the mouth of the bay. The drift of the lighter portion of this over the fishing ground could hardly be supposed to effect the change, since it is dumped not less than two miles from land and distributed over a large area of surface. The amount of garbage rarely exceeds 150 barrels and probably not over one-third, or fifty barrels, of this floats upon the surface. Of this a small part only ever reaches our shores ; some of this is devoured by birds, and we hear of fish being taken with vegetable matter in them ; a large pollock was found with a quantity of celery in its stomach. We cannot see that the floating of this small amount of refuse of vegetable matter over the fishing ground can be more delete- rious to the fishing than the same quantity of seaweed. That the gar- bage attracts sharks and the sharks keep off other fish seems more plausible. But the presence of sharks in the water this season in very large numbers is attributed to the unusually warm weather by some of our closest observers, and to this cause we are inclined. While we doubt not the garbage does attract these fish in its locality we hardly think it possible to draw them from distant localities to the extent ob- served this season. Mackerel have been in or near our coast all the season, but did not take the hook freely ; very few were taken except small mackerel, which are reported as very plentiful all along the coast. [From the Halifax, N. S., Morning Herald.] LETTER FROM W. H. ROGERS. Columbia, Pa., June 33, 1891. The large increase in the catch of mackerel on the Nova Scotia coast this spring is particularly gratifying to the writer, as it douhtless is to the fisher- REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 15 men interested, and particularly so as the failure on the American coast is still more marked than in former years. The reason for this state of things is easily understood by those who have given the subject any thought or intelligent con- sideration. Scientific investigation both in Europe and America have demon- strated that : 1st. All the mackerel caught by man amounts to but a drop in the bucket to what are destroyed by natural causes and devoured by their natural enemies, both in the sea and upon its surface. 2d. Mackerel are controlled in their movements by temperature and food in- fluences, and not by modes of fishing, sawdust, purse seines, etc. The matter of temperature is of course beyond the reach of human laws, while that of food supply is not. It is quite obvious to those who will give the subject any intelli- gent thought that the almost total destruction of the alewive fishery of Nova Scotia up to 1882-3 had well nigh destroyed a very important item in the food supply of the coast fishery in all its branches, as has been the case in otlier coun- tries. Knowing this I addressed myself to the work of improving fishways and opening the streams for the ascent of anadramous fishes, with what results the public know, and the departmental reports of the catch of alewives during the past seven or eight years prove, and the increasing catch of mackerel bear wit- ness to the correctness of the views 1 have maintained, and which are recorded in every published report from year to year. Having done this for my native province in the face of the most fierce and bitter opposition of certain public men who live for nothing but self and have no use for anybody or any improvement unless they contribute to the inflation of their purse or vanity, I am now spending the few remaining years of my life in opening the streams of the United States, and am sending shad, alewives, salmon and other fish over doors and up such rivers as the Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Raritan and other great streams, on some of which scores of thousands of dollars had been wasted on such silly devices as the Hawkins abor- tion, by men who knew no more of the matter than he does. I note what was said in your columns recently as to the salmon caught in Wilmot's trap at the Rhino dam. I am quite familiar with the conditions existing there, and know what occurred as well as if I had been on the spot, and will assert that no salmon ever did or ever will pass through a Hawkins fishway under a six-foot head or upwards, or alewives under a four-foot head or upwards, and that every dollar spent upon it of either public or private funds will be wasted. The his- tory of a few years will prove the soundness of these views, as it has already done in the sawdust and other important matters in relation to the interests of the fisheries. 3ut then "Experts (?)" are now employee^. W. H. ROGERS. 16 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. Tautog have been plenty on the fishing grounds in the bay, but not so plenty on the ledges outside until late in the season. About the middle of October, when they had gone out of the rivers, they were so plenty that one fisherman caught from 200 to 250 in number in about four hours fishing. This lasted for about three weeks. Scup the past season in their approach to our coast came more freely into the Bay. While the outer traps caught much less, those inside caught enough more to swell the shipments beyond that of any previous year of which we have record, excepting that of 1889. They remained in our waters all the season and furnished abundance of fishing. With the schools that came here in May were large numbers of small fish, and they caused the fishermen much trouble to separate them. This was done by large mesh netting that would allow the small ones to pass out. It was thought that from 1,000 barrels they would save but about 50 barrels of large scup. It was a great sight to see the millions of these little fellows turned from the traps every morning for near three weeks. This is reported as the experience of all the traps from Point Judith to Seaconnett. Surely the presence of these small scup in such immense numbers this year would justify the theory that it will be followed next year by largely increased numbers of the larger ones, and there can be little question of the soundness of this reasoning. But an unusual depletion of their numbers from natural agencies that are at work, unseen and unknown, while they are absent from us, may, as it often has, disappoint us. Herring. These fish that are the earliest comers of all anadromous fishes REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OP INLAND FISHERIES. 17 failed to appear but in very small numbers in our waters, yet they are said to have been very abundant in Buzzard Bay and Vineyard Sound. The Anchovy Have been very abundant along the coast ; they furnish food for many other fish. Menhaden. The catch has been the poorest for many years, the catch of the whole fleet hardly exceeded the catch of one steamer in 1889. This is owing partly to the restrictive laws in some of the States. The total catch is about 225,000 barrels. State of Rhode Island, in account iclth Commissioners of Inland Fisheries: 1891. ' Dr. Jan. 1. To paid for brook trout eggs, hatching and raising $84 60 " Expressage 4 80 May 4. " Expense on 2,060,000 Shad Fry ? 24 00 Dec. 31. " Expenses of Commissioners 44 56 " Paper, stamps and stationery 8 50 $166 46 1891. Cr. May 16. l>y cash from State Treasurer $65 56 " Balance due Commissioners 100 90 $166 46 J. M. K. SOOTHWICK, HENRY T. ROOT, WILLIAM P. MORTON, Cominissioyiers of Inland Fisheries. MBL WHOl UBRARY UH 17US T