A Report upon the Mollusk Fisheries of MassachusettsMassachusetts. Commissioners on Fisheries and Game
Science
A Report upon the Mollusk Fisheries of Massachusetts
Massachusetts. Commissioners on Fisheries and Game
Shellfish fisheries -- Massachusetts
The villages of Buzzards Bay, Monument Beach and Cataumet share the
scallop fishery of the town of Bourne, and have had during 1907-08 a
successful season for the first time in eight years.
The available scallop territory of the town covers approximately 3,000
acres, extending from Buttermilk Bay along the whole coast of the town
to Cataumet.
The fishing is mostly done by dredging with cat boats, carrying from
six to ten dredges per boat, although a few scallopers dredge with
power. The dredges are generally of the "scraper" type, with the chain
bottom, similar to the dredges used at Edgartown. The scallopers both
open their own catch and hire openers to assist them. Thirty boats, 8
carrying 2 men, and 22 with 1 man, totalling 38 men, are employed in
the scallop fishery.
The industry lasted until Jan. 1, 1908, when the boats were hauled up
for winter. The total estimate for the season is 20,000 bushels, or
12,000 gallons (unsoaked), valued at $15,720. The largest daily catch
recorded for one boat was 72 bushels.
The principal market is New York, though part of the catch is sent
to New Bedford. The price varied from $1.15 to $3 per gallon. The
scallopers claim that they do not soak the scallops, as the "eye" is
large enough to sell well without increasing its size. Undoubtedly
soaking is done to some extent. The scallops are large, opening about
3½ quarts per bushel.
Twelve hundred dollars are invested in gear and $15,000 in boats, which
vary from $300 to $1,300 in value.
Licenses costing $1 are required by the selectmen of every scalloper.
Here again we find the old tale of the decline of a once prosperous
industry, and new enthusiasm in the success of the 1907-08 season. The
1906-07 season was an improvement over the previous one, when eight
licenses were issued, allowing a maximum of 1,605 bushels to be taken.
In previous years no licenses were given, as there were no scallops.
_Brewster._
Scalloping at Brewster can hardly be called an industry. Here the
primitive method of picking up the scallops on the exposed flats at
low tide is alone used. The scallops are washed by the heavy seas on
the flats, and can be gathered by men, women and children when the
tide goes down. Somewhere in the deeper water is a bed of scallops,
but in 1905 no one had been able to locate it. In 1905 only one man
made a business of gathering and shipping these scallops. He averaged 2
bushels per tide, going down with a team and carting them to his house,
where he opened them. All shipments were made to Boston, at an average
price of $1.75 to $2. The people pick up many for home use.
_Chatham._
The town of Chatham, situated at the elbow of Cape Cod, possesses
abundant facilities for all the shore fisheries. For the past
twenty-five years the scallop fishery has held almost equal rank with
the lobster and cod fisheries, for which Chatham is noted, and has in
many years furnished employment when other fishing had failed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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