The Lobster Fishery of Maine Part 3

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Boiling live lobsters preparatory to s.h.i.+pping on ice, showing boiler, steam tank, cage, etc.]

After cooling, they are packed in barrels for s.h.i.+pment, 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 sh.e.l.l 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 $70,000, were handled here, while 6,145,821 pounds, valued at $611,955, were handled in 1898.

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

Rockland Portland -------- -------- Value of property, capital, and wages Property, etc $14,338 $44,770 Cars 850 6,800 Cash Capital 22,000 110,500 Wages 4,676 18,198

Number of persons engaged Firms 2 10*

Proprietors 3 13 Clerks 2 2 Other Employees 7 31

Rockland Portland Lobsters bought -------------- --------------- and sold No. Value No. Value --------------- --- ----- --- ----- Bought, No. 692,188 4,097,214 Bought, lbs. 1,038,282 $89,984 6,145,821 $611,955 Sold, lbs. 795,934 91,532 5,308,027 690,045 Sold, lbs. 347,815 26,705 515,518 82,483

*Several of these firms also handle other fishery products.

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Inclosure for live lobsters at Vinal Haven, Maine]

The lobsters are bought from smacks and from fishermen in the vicinity during the height of the fis.h.i.+ng 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 $1 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 quant.i.ty 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 s.h.i.+pment 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 $18,700. 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 Mitch.e.l.l, now of Charlestown, Ma.s.s., 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 Pen.o.bscot River, and in 1839 removed to Calais, Me., where he continued in the same business.

About 1840 he a.s.sociated with him a Mr. n.o.ble, of Calais, and a Mr. Holliday, a native of Scotland, who had also been employed in the salmon fisheries of the Pen.o.bscot River, under the firm name of Treat, n.o.ble & 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 Mitch.e.l.l, 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. Mitch.e.l.l'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.

The success at Eastport led to a rapid extension of the business in other parts of the State. The second cannery was located at Harpswell about the year 1849. A cannery was started at Carver Harbor, Fox Islands, in 1851, and another at Southwest Harbor in 1853. In 1857 a cannery was started at North Haven, and at Gouldsboro two were started in 1863 and 1870, respectively. From this time the number increased rapidly for several years. After 1880 the number operated fluctuated considerably, depending on the abundance of lobsters.

Some canneries had to suspend operations at an early stage, owing to the exhaustion of the grounds in their vicinity. At most canneries lobsters formed only a part of the pack, sardines, clams, fish, and various vegetables and fruits being packed in their season. Most of the canneries were built and operated by Boston and Portland firms.

At first the lobsters used for canning ranged in weight from 3 to 10 pounds. Gradually the average weight was reduced, until at last it reached as low as 3/4 pound, or even less. This was caused princ.i.p.ally by the high prices paid for large lobsters for the fresh trade, with which the canneries could not compete.

As the supply of lobsters on the Maine coast began to decrease shortly before 1870, while the demand for canned lobsters increased at an enormous rate, the dealers began to establish canneries on the coasts of the British provinces. As the decline in the supply was attributed to the canneries, a sentiment against them was gradually formed, and laws were enacted regulating the time in which they could operate and the size of the lobsters they could put up. Prior to 1879 they were permitted to pack lobsters at any season of the year, but they usually operated only between April 1 and August 1, and again between the 10th or middle of September and the 1st of December, the length of the season depending very largely upon the weather and the abundance of lobsters. In 1879 it was enacted that no canning of lobsters should be allowed from August 1 to April 1 following. In 1883 it was made illegal to can lobsters less than 9 inches in length. In 1885 the canning season was fixed from April 1 to July 15. In 1889 the season was fixed from May 1 to July 1, and the minimum length of lobsters to be canned placed at 9 inches. In 1891 this act was so amended as to make the season from April 20 to June 1. After 1880 the number of canneries gradually declined, until in 1895 the last one suspended the canning, of lobsters, owing to the pa.s.sage of a law fixing the minimum size at 10-1/2 inches. This law went into effect July 1, 1895. As they could not afford to pay the high price demanded for this size they were compelled to give up the business.

The following table shows the number of factories in operation, the quant.i.ty and value of fresh lobsters used, and the number and value of cans of lobsters put up, in the years 1880, 1889, and 1892:

1880 1889 1892 ------------- ------------- -------------- No. Value No. Value No. Value --- ----- --- ----- --- ----- Number of canneries 23 20 11 Lobsters used, fresh lbs. 9,494,284 $95,000 5,752,654 $72,092 9,494,284 $95,000

Canned One-lb cans 1,542,696 999,521 126,577 1,228,944 195,114 Two-lb cans 148,704 85,520 16,036 3,096 839 Other sizes 139,801 --------- ------- --------- ------- --------- ------- Total cans 1,831,201 238,280 1,085,041 142,613 1,232,040 195,953

Part of the lobsters used in the Eastport factories come from New Brunswick. It is impossible to separate them.

ABUNDANCE, ETC.

There are no accurate figures showing the catch of lobsters in Maine previous to 1880. It is therefore difficult to make comparisons, and one is compelled to depend largely upon the memory of the fishermen and the statements of the canners and dealers, which the lapse of time, etc., makes rather unreliable. The numerous pet.i.tions sent to the legislature asking for restrictive laws, while possibly exaggerated at times, indicate that there were fears of the exhaustion of the fishery for some years back. It is positively known, however, that certain grounds have been almost or totally exhausted through overfis.h.i.+ng for a number of years, while on other grounds the supply of lobsters has seriously decreased. There was a time when no lobster under 2 pounds in weight was saved by the fishermen. In later years, before there was a restriction fixing the minimum size of lobsters that could be canned, the canneries frequently used half-pound lobsters. The fixing of the minimum length of the lobsters caught at 10-1/2 inches, and the consequent closing up of the canneries, has been of incalculable benefit to the fishermen, as the young lobsters now have an opportunity to reach maturity.

The table given below shows for certain years the number of pots used, the quant.i.ty of lobsters taken, with their value, also the average catch and value per man, the average catch per pot, and the average price per pound:

Average Average Average Average Catch catch stock catch price Fisher- ---------------- per per per per Year men Pots Pounds Value man man pot pound ---- --- ---- ------ ----- --- --- --- ----- pounds pounds cents

1880 1,843 104,456 14,234,182 $268,739 7,723 $146 136 1.9 1887 1,906 113,299 22,916,642 512,044 12,023 269 202 2.2 1888 1,967 112,632 21,694,731 515,880 11,029 267 193 2.4 1889 2,080 121,140 25,001,351 574,165 12,020 276 206 2.3 1892 2,628 153,043 17,642,677 663,043 6,713 252 117 3.8 1898 3,099 155,978 11,183,294 992,855 3,609 320 78 8.9

While the catch increased up to 1889 and then decreased until in 1898 it was lower than in 1880, the number of fisherman and pots and the value of the catch steadily increased. The average stock per man fluctuated somewhat from year to year, but in 1898 shows a considerable increase over every other year. The most interesting point however, is the average price per pound. In 1880 this was 1.9 cents, while in 1898 it was 8.9 cents per pound. With one exception, each year shows a progressive increase in value per pound. The great increase of 1898 over 1892, 5.1 cents per pound, was caused by the closing up of the canneries in 1895, and the consequent dropping out of the cheap product they had been buying from the fishermen.

WEIGHT OF LOBSTERS.

The figures given below show the average weight of lobsters at certain given lengths. These weights are made up from the results obtained by investigators of the United States Fish Commission, particularly those of Prof. Francis H. Herrick. Males in nearly every instance weigh slightly more than females of the same length.