Read Ebook: The Lobster Fishery of Maine Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission Vol. 19 Pages 241-265 1899 by Cobb John N John Nathan

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er. The sketch shown on the following page gives a good idea of the difference in shape.

In the center of the ordinary pot is a sort of spearhead of wood or iron from 8 to 12 inches long. This has one large barb and is set upright in the middle of the center frame. The bait is placed on this spearhead. Several large stones or bricks are lashed to the bottom of the pot, on the inside, in order to furnish weight enough to hold the pot at the bottom.

As it was noticed that a lobster generally crawled over a pot before entering by the end, some pots of a square form and with the opening at the top were constructed, but they were not successful.

Another variation had a length of 7-1/2 feet and five supporting frames inside instead of three, as in the old pot. These were set at equal distances apart, and had two more funnels than the other, one funnel being attached to each of the frames except the center one, and all pointing inward. In order to reach the bait the lobster had to pass through two funnels, and its chances of escape were thereby lessened. This style is rarely seen now.

Still another variety in vogue for a short time had a trapdoor, on which the lobster had to climb in order to reach the bait; the door then gave way and precipitated the lobster into a secure inclosure.

A few pots are made with a funnel of laths in place of the net funnels. They are the same as the ordinary pot in every other particular.

The ordinary pots cost about to construct.

During certain seasons the pots are badly eaten by "worms," the shipworm or one of the species of small boring crustaceans. Pots are also frequently lost during stormy weather, and the fishermen therefore have a reserve stock on hand in order to replace those lost or temporarily disabled.

METHODS OF FISHING.

In fishing the traps are either set on single warps or on trawls of 8 to 40 and 50 pots. At first all pots were set singly. The line by which they were lowered and hauled up, and which also served as a buoy line, was fastened to one of the end frames of the bottom or sill, as it is called, at the intersection of the hoop. The buoys generally consist of a tapering piece of cedar or spruce, wedge-shaped, or nearly spindle shaped, and about 18 inches long. They are usually painted in distinctive colors, so that each fisherman may easily recognize his own. Small kegs are also used as buoys.

In the warm season the pots are frequently set on trawls or "ground lines," as lobsters are quite thick then on the rocky bottom near shore. If the bottom is sandy they are set farther from shore. Lobsters are most numerous on a rocky bottom. In the trawl method the pots are usually set about 30 feet apart, depending on the depth of water, so that when one pot is in the boat the next will be on the bottom. The ground lines have large anchors at each end and a floating buoy tied to a strong line, which is fastened to the ground line almost 25 fathoms from the anchors. When the last pot is hauled the anchor is far enough away to hold the boat in position. The pots are set at distances from the shore ranging from 100 yards to 5 or 6 miles. This method of setting pots was first used about the year 1865 in Sagadahoc County. The traps are set in from 3 to 10 fathoms in the warm season.

In winter fishing the pots are generally set singly, as the lobsters are more scattered then and the best results are attained by shifting the position of the pots slightly each time they are fished. This is caused by the drift of the boat while the fisherman is hauling in the pot, emptying and rebaiting it, and then dropping it overboard again. The winter fishing is generally carried on in the open sea, although in a few places, like Sheepscot Bay, the lobsters in winter retire to the deep waters of the bays and can there be caught. The pots are generally set in from 20 to 50 fathoms of water at this season.

Certain fishermen claim that when pots are set on a trawl placed across the tide the catch is greater than when the trawl is set in the direction of the current. In the former case, it is asserted, the scent or fine particles coming from the bait is more widely diffused and more apt to attract the lobsters. In entering, after first reconnoitering around and over the pot, the lobster always backs in, primarily that he may be prepared to meet any foe following him, also because his large claws would be apt to catch in the net funnel should he enter head first. After discovering that he is imprisoned, which he does very speedily, he seems to lose all desire for the bait, and spends his time roaming around the pot hunting for a means of escape.

The pots are generally hauled once a day, but sometimes twice a day in good weather. As the tide along the Maine coast is quite strong, the fishermen usually haul their pots at or about slack water, low tide generally being preferred when they are worked once a day. The number used by a fisherman varies greatly on different sections of the coast. According to the investigations of this Commission, the average number of pots to the man in certain years was as follows: Fifty-six pots in 1880, 59 in 1887 and 1888, 58 in 1889 and 1892, and 50 in 1898. This average, however, is somewhat misleading, as quite a number of persons along the coast take up lobstering for only a few months in the year, and then return to their regular occupations. As these persons use but few pots, the average per man throughout the whole State is very considerably reduced. The regular lobster fishermen have been steadily increasing the number of their pots for several years past. They have found this an absolute necessity in order to catch as many lobsters now as they caught twenty or thirty years ago. It is not unusual now to find one of the regular fishermen handling as high as 100 pots, and sometimes even 125, when a few years ago 25 and 50 pots was a large number. This does not take into account his reserve stock of pots, which it is necessary to have on hand in order to replace those damaged or lost.

BAIT.

Cod, hake, and halibut heads are quite generally used as bait. Halibut heads are said to be the best, as they are tougher than the cod or hake heads, and thus last much longer. Sculpins, flounders, in fact almost any kind of fish, can be used. In the vicinity of sardine canneries the heads of herring are used. Sometimes the bait is slightly salted, at other times it is used fresh. Small herring are lightly salted, and then allowed to remain until partly decayed, when they are inclosed in small bags, and these put into the pots. The oil from this bait forms a "slick" in the water, and when the smell from it is strong the fishermen consider it at its best. The bait is generally secured by small haul-seines and spears in sections where offal can not be bought.

FISHING VESSELS AND BOATS.

The fishing vessels are either sloop or schooner rigged, with an average net tonnage of slightly over 8 tons and an average value of about 5. There has been a great increase in the number of these vessels during recent years. Eight vessels were used in 1880, 29 in 1889, and 130 in 1898. Quite a number of these vessels are used in other fisheries during their seasons. Two men usually form a crew, although three, and sometimes four, are occasionally used.

The other vessels comprise sailboats under 5 tons and rowboats. The sailboats are generally small square-sterned sloops, open in the afterpart, but with a cuddy forward. They are all built with centerboards, and some are lapstreak while others are "set work." Around the afterpart of the standing room is a seat, the ballast is floored over, and two little bunks and a stove generally help to furnish the cuddy. They vary in length from 16 to 26 feet and in width from 6 to 9 feet; they average about 2 tons. They are especially adapted to the winter fishery, as they are good sailers and ride out the storms easily.

Dories are in quite general use in the lobster fishery, as are also the double-enders, or peapods. This latter is a small canoe-shaped boat of an average length of 15-1/2 feet, 4-1/2 feet breadth, and 1-1/2 feet depth. They are mainly built lapstreak, but a few are "set work." Both ends are exactly alike; the sides are rounded and the bottom is flat, being, however, only 4 or 5 inches wide in the center and tapering toward each end, at the same time bending slightly upward, so as to make the boat shallower at the ends than in the middle. This kind of bottom is called a "rocker bottom." They are usually rowed, but are sometimes furnished with a sprit sail and centerboard.

TRANSPORTING VESSELS OR SMACKS.

The steam smacks now used average about 14 tons. They are usually built low in the water, and have a small pilot-house forward, with an open space between it and the engine-house, and living quarters aft. The boat has also one or two short masts. Some of them also have the pilot-house and engine-house joined together. In those with a space between the pilot-house and engine-house the well is usually placed in this open space. Where the pilot-house and engine-house are together the well is either located forward or aft. These wells are generally capable of bolding from 3,000 to 10,000 live lobsters. Small holes in the bottom of the well keep it filled with fresh sea water. Should the weather be clear the proportion of dead and injured lobsters will be small, but in bad weather many are apt to be killed by the pitching and rolling to which they are subjected.

These smacks make regular trips up and down the coast, landing their cargoes either at Rockland, Portland, or at one of the lobster pounds scattered along the coast. They not only stop at the villages, but also drop anchor off the little camps of the lobstermen, and should the smacks of two rival dealers arrive at a place simultaneously, which frequently happens, the bidding between the captains for the fishermen's catch gladdens the latter's heart and greatly enriches his pocketbook. Most of the captains have regular places of call where they know the fishermen are holding their lobsters for them, and they follow a rude sort of schedule, which will not often vary more than a day or two. The lobsters are bought of the fishermen by count, and cash is paid for them. Should the smack belong to a dealer this practically ends the financial side of the transaction so far as the captain is concerned, as the crew are paid wages. Should the smack belong to a person other than the dealer, which is frequently the case, he either makes an agreement with some dealer to run for him exclusively at a certain price or commission, or else buys from the fishermen and then sells at either Rockland or Portland. This method of buying lobsters is somewhat hazardous, as the market price sometimes changes sharply when the smack is out of reach of telegraphic communication.

LOBSTER CARS.

Lobsters must be marketed in a live or boiled condition; and as fishermen can get better prices for them alive than boiled, each fisherman generally has a live-car in which to hold them until they can be sold. These cars are usually oblong, rectangular boxes, with open seams or numerous small holes to permit the free circulation of the water. They are of various sizes, according to the needs of the fisherman, a good average being about 6 feet long by 4 feet wide and about 2 feet deep. The door is placed on the top. They are usually moored close to the shore during the fishing season, the rest of the time being hauled up on the beach.

The dealers cars are very similar to those used by the fishermen, only much larger. They generally average about 30 feet in length, 12 feet in width; and 3 feet in depth, with capacity for from 2,000 to 3,000 lobsters. The inner part of this car is usually divided off into five transverse compartments by means of a framework inside. Each compartment is provided with two large doors entering from the top, one door on each side of the middle line of the car. These cars cost the dealers about each. The life of one of these cars is about five or six years, although at the end of about three years it is generally necessary to replace the sides of the car on account of the ravages of a dock worm which is quite abundant along the Maine coast. When new the top of the car is usually about a foot above the water, but as it gets water-soaked it sinks down until it is even with the water, and some of the older cars have to be buoyed up with kegs at each end, placed inside, to prevent them from sinking below the surface. These cars are moored alongside the docks of the dealers at Portland and Rockland and other points.

Mr. J. R. Burns, of Friendship, has invented and patented a new style of car. The inside is divided into a series of compartments by horizontal and vertical partitions of slats, wire netting, or any material which will permit the free circulation of the water. Each compartment has a chute extending down into it from the top, by means of which the lobsters can be put in and their food given them. There are also conveniently arranged openings, with doors, through which the lobsters may be removed when desired. These cars usually average about 35 feet in length, 18 feet in width, and 6 feet in depth, and have a capacity for about 5,000 lobsters each. They are in use at Rockland, Friendship, Tremont, and Jonesport. They prevent the lobsters from huddling together and thus killing each other by their own weight.

METHODS OF SHIPPING, WHOLESALE TRADE, ETC.

As lobsters can not be shipped or preserved in a frozen state they must be shipped either alive or boiled. About nine-tenths of the lobsters caught in Maine waters are shipped in the live state. The principal shipping centers are Portland, Rockland, and Eastport, which have good railroad and steamship facilities with points outside of the State. Those shipped from the latter point are mainly from the British Provinces, the fishermen near Eastport bringing them in in their own boats. A number also come in from the Provinces on the regular steamship lines. The other places get their supply from the smacks and also from the fishermen in their vicinity, who run in their own catch. Portland is very favorably situated in this regard, as Casco Bay is a noted fishing center for lobsters.

As soon as a smack arrives it is moored directly alongside one of the cars. The lobsters are then dipped out of the well by means of long-handled scoop nets and thrown on the deck of the vessel. The doors of the car are then opened, and men on the vessel pick over the lobsters lying on the deck and toss them two by two into the different compartments, those dead and badly mutilated being thrown to one side for the time being. All vigorous lobsters above a certain size are placed in compartments of the car by themselves, while the weak and small are put in separate compartments. The dead lobsters and those which have had their shells broken or have been so injured that they are very sure to die are either thrown overboard or on the dump. A lobster which has lost one or even both claws is not thrown away, as such an injury would have very little effect on its health.

When an order is received for live lobsters, those which have been longest in the cars are usually shipped. Flour barrels holding about 140 pounds or sugar barrels holding about 185 pounds, with small holes bored in the bottoms for drainage, are used for the shipment. Formerly the lobsters were packed close together in the barrel, and a large piece of ice was put in at the top, but this was found to kill a number of them. The present method is to split off about one-third of a 100-pound cake of ice the long way, and place it upright about half way of the length of the barrel, the lobsters then being packed snugly on all sides of the ice. In handling them the packer seizes the lobster by the carapace with his right hand, bends the tail up under the body with his left hand, and quickly deposits it in the barrel. The packer usually has his right hand covered with a woolen mitt or wrapped in a long piece of linen, for protection from the claws of the lobster.

When the barrel is nearly full the lobsters are covered with a little seaweed or large-leaved marine plants, and the rest of the space is filled with cracked ice. The top is then covered with a piece of sacking, which is secured under the upper hoop of the barrel. Packed in this way, lobsters have easily survived a trip as far west as St. Louis.

Owing to the high prices realized in England for live lobsters, attempts have been made to ship live American lobsters to that market, generally from Canadian ports. In 1877 Messrs. John Marston & Sons, of Portland, made a trial shipment of 250. They were placed in a large tank 20 feet long by 8 feet wide and 3 feet deep, and constantly supplied with fresh seawater through six faucets by means of a donkey engine, a waste-pipe preventing any overflow. The trip was fairly successful, as only 50 died, and the balance brought from 60 to 75 cents per pound.

The smacks and dealers buy lobsters by count, as the fishermen generally have no facilities for weighing them; but the dealers always sell by weight. The mortality among the lobsters from the time they are put aboard the smacks until they are barreled for shipment is estimated at about 5 per cent.

BOILING.

Live lobsters are much preferred by the trade throughout the country, and only those that can not be marketed in such condition are boiled. The number boiled fluctuates considerably, owing to the condition of the markets. When the fresh markets of Boston and New York are overstocked, the lobster dealers of Rockland and Portland, where most of the Maine lobsters are boiled, proceed to boil their surplus stock.

The following description of the boiling is from The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, section v, vol. II, p. 684:

The boilers are rectangular wooden tanks or vats of about 60 gallons capacity, lined with zinc and furnished with a cover. Heat is applied by the introduction of steam through a series of perforated pipes arranged in the bottom of the tank. The steam is generated in an ordinary boiler standing close at hand. The lobsters are not thrown directly into the vat, as the operation of removing them after cooking would in such an event be an exceedingly tedious one; but an iron framework basket, of rather slender bars is made to fit the tank loosely, and is lowered and raised by means of a small derrick placed over the tank. This frame, which holds about 300 pounds, is filled with lobsters at the edge of the wharf from the floating cars, and is then carried to the tank and lowered into it after the water it contains has reached the desired temperature, that of boiling. The water is first supplied to the tank, which is filled to about one-third or two-thirds its capacity, about a peck of salt is added, and then the steam is turned on. The same water suffices for several successive boilings, about 2 quarts of salt being added each time. The lobsters are allowed to remain in about half an hour, or until the proper red color indicates they are sufficiently cooked.

After cooling, they are packed in barrels for shipment, just as live lobsters are. When well iced they will keep a week or longer. Only live lobsters are boiled, as the meat of those which die prior to boiling deteriorates rapidly.

The fishermen and small dealers use various kinds of boilers, from an ordinary washboiler to a smaller form of the regular boiler used by the large dealers. The product prepared by these people is generally picked from the shell and sold locally in that condition. This opens a way for the fisherman to evade the 10-1/2 inch limit law. They frequently take lobsters under the minimum legal size and, after boiling them, pick the flesh. It is then impossible for anybody to tell what sized lobster the meat had come from. Quite a local trade in the picking of lobsters has been established in a number of small coast towns, the meat generally being sold in the immediate vicinity.

The following table shows the extent of the wholesale lobster trade in Rockland and Portland during 1898, including everything connected with the business except the smacks and pounds, which are shown elsewhere. There are a few other dealers scattered along the coast, but most of the business is concentrated at these cities. An idea of the extent of the increase in the lobster trade of Portland can be gained when it is stated that in 1880 about 1,900,000 pounds of lobsters, valued at ,000, were handled here, while 6,145,821 pounds, valued at 1,955, were handled in 1898.

Extent of the wholesale lobster trade of Rockland and Portland in 1898.

LOBSTER POUNDS

For a number of years the catch of lobsters was sold by the fishermen to the dealers and by the latter to the trade as rapidly as possible. In doing this the markets would be flooded at certain times, when the price would drop to a very low figure, while at other times they would be very scarce, which would enhance the price materially. The dealers were the first to see the necessity for devising some method by which lobsters could be secured when they were plentiful and cheap and retained in captivity until they became scarce and high in price: Inclosures of various kinds had for some years been in use in the fisheries in various parts of the country for the purpose of keeping certain species alive until the time came to utilize them. In 1875 Johnson & Young, of Boston, established an inclosure or pound near Vinal Haven, on one of the Fox Islands. A cove covering about 500 acres, with an average depth of about 90 feet, was selected. A section of about 9 acres, separated from the main portion of the cove by a natural shoal and with a bottom of soft grayish mud, was selected for the pound. In order to make it proof against the efforts of the lobsters to escape and as a protection from enemies without, a wire fence was built over the shoal part. This section had a depth of from 15 to 60 feet, and a capacity of about 300,000, although there were rarely that many in the pound at one time.

The lobsters are bought from smacks and from fishermen in the vicinity during the height of the fishing season, when the price is low, and are retained in the pound until the price becomes high, which is generally during the winter season. They are fed with fish offal, which can usually be bought at Vinal Haven for per barrel.

Oily fish are not fed to them, as it is said that the lobsters decrease in weight on such a diet. Experience has shown that the quantity of food required depends largely on the temperature of the water, as lobsters do not eat as freely when the water is cold as in water of a higher temperature. When wanted for shipment they are usually secured by means of pots, seines, or beam trawls.

Even with such a successful example before them, other dealers were chary about going into the business, and in 1890 there were only three pounds in the whole State. They increased more rapidly after that, however, and in 1898 there were nine pounds in the State, with a total valuation of ,700. These were located at Dyer Bay, Sunset, Vinal Haven, Long Island, South Bristol, Pemaquid Beach, Southport, and House Island, in Portland Harbor. It is very probable that there will be a greater increase in the near future.

THE CANNING INDUSTRY.

Maine is the only State in the Union in which lobsters have been canned. The following account of the inception and early history of the industry, taken from "The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States," is very complete:

Lobster canning was first attempted in the United States at Eastport, Me., shortly after 1840, and was made successful in 1843, the methods finally employed having been borrowed from Scotland, which country is said to have learned the process from France. For the successful introduction of the process into the United States we are indebted to Mr. Charles Mitchell, now of Charlestown, Mass., a practical canner of Scotland, who had learned his trade of John Moir & Son, of Aberdeen, the first Scotch firm, it is claimed, to put up hermetically sealed preparations of meat, game, and salmon, their enterprise dating back to 1824. Mr. U. S. Treat, a native of Maine, appears, however, to have been most active and influential in starting the enterprise and in introducing canned goods into the markets of the United States. Mr. Treat was, at an early period, engaged in the preparation of smoked salmon on the Penobscot River, and in 1839 removed to Calais, Me., where he continued in the same business. About 1840 he associated with him a Mr. Noble, of Calais, and a Mr. Holliday, a native of Scotland, who had also been employed in the salmon fisheries of the Penobscot River, under the firm name of Treat, Noble & Holliday. This firm moved to Eastport in 1842, for the purpose of starting the manufacture of hermetically sealed goods, and began experiments with lobsters, salmon, and haddock. Their capital was limited, their appliances crude, and many discouraging difficulties were encountered. The quality of the cans furnished them was poor, causing them often to burst while in the bath, and the proper methods of bathing and of expelling the air from the cans were not understood. The experiments were continued for two years with varying success, and in secret, no outsiders being allowed to enter their bathing room. Though fairly successful in some of their results, they could not always depend upon their goods keeping well.

In 1843 they secured the services of Mr. Charles Mitchell, who was then residing at Halifax, and who was not only well acquainted with the methods of bathing practiced in his own country, but was also a practical tinsmith. He had been employed in the canning of hermetically sealed goods in Scotland for ten years, and came over to Halifax in 1841, where he continued for two years in the same occupation, exporting his goods to England. After Mr. Mitchell's arrival at Eastport, no further difficulty was experienced in the bathing or other preparation of the lobsters, and a desirable grade of goods was put up, but they found no sale, as canned preparations were comparatively unknown in the markets of the United States. Mr. Treat visited each of the larger cities with samples of the goods, and endeavored to establish agencies for them, but he was generally obliged to send on consignment, as few firms were willing to take the responsibility of buying on their own account. A patent was also applied for, but the claim was not pressed and the patent was never received.

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