Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1902 — MONEY IN THE FISHERIES. [ARTICLE]

MONEY IN THE FISHERIES.

Vaet Fortunes Have Been Amassed by Those Who Seine the Ocean. Far more profitable In many instances than tilling the soil and gleaning the harvests therefrom is the occupation of “farming” the ocean. Many of those engaged in the coasts fisheries have become immensely rich. The total harvest of sea fish sold at Gloucester and Boston, which are the principal markets, during the past year, officially reported, amounted to 162,218,021 pounds, worth $4,385,102, of which the Newfoundland banks produced something more than 65,000,000 pounds, while the grounds off the New England coast yielded nearly 97,000,000 pounds. There were 3,731 “fares” (smack loads) brought to Boston, says a writer in Success. Of these 203 came from the eastern banks. At Gloucester, 3,782 “fares” were landed, of which 668 were from the eastern banks. On the Pacific coast the catch amounted to 217,965,156 pounds, the value of which was $6,278,639. The capital Invested there amounted to nearly $13,000,000 and 20,000 people found employment in the business. For the sake of comparison. It may be worth telling that the fresh water lakes, which Uncle Sam also cultivates, yielded 113,728,040 pounds of fish, worth $2,611,482, while the Mississippi and its tributaries produced 94,713,402 pounds, valued at $1,771,812. To sum it up, the principal fish fields of the United States produced in one year for the market the extraordinary amount of 588,625,519 pounds of edible fish, for which the fishermen received more than $15,000,000. This does not include the run of shad or any fish brought directly to New York City and other ports south; nor does it include the quantities taken in local waters and consumed in the villages and smaller cities. Neither does It include the shellfish. '