The Goldsboro star. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1881-18??, 1881-10-15
FISHERMEN OF AMERICA.

IOlCEbOA NJ ASLOWA NNSO,NN'J ~
United States fish commission, and
special agent Of the census in charge OF
fishery statistics, read an interesting
paper on 'I'he Fishermen of the United
States" before the Anthropological
society Of Washington. Professor Goode
said: Every man engaged in the fish
cries has at least one other man who is
considerable extent upon
the labors Of the first for support. 10
the class Of shoremen belong ~ the
capitalists who furnish supplies and
apparatus for the use of the active
fishermen; (2) the shopkeepers from
whom they purchase provisions and
clothing, and (3) the skilled laborers
who manufacture for them articles of
apparel, shelter and the apparatus of
the trade. In addition to the profess
sional fishermen, there is large class
of men who have been called 'semi-
professional" fishermen-men who de-
rive from the fisheries less than half
of their entire income. Taking into
account all those persons who are di-
rectly employed in the fisheries for q
larger or smaller portion Of the year,
those who are dependent upon fisher
men in commercial way for support,
and the members of their families who
are actually dependent upon their
labors, it cannot be far out OF the way
to estimate the total number Of persons
dependent on the fisheries at from $780,
900 to 100000.
The total value Of the product to the
producers of the fisheries of the United
States has not yet been definitely de-
termined; but it will doubtless prove
to be somewhere between forty and fifty
million Of dollars. OF the thirty-one
States and Territories whose citizens
are engaged in the fishery industry,
seventeen have more than thousand
professional fishermen. The most i'm
portant Of these States is, of course,
Massachusetts, with from eighteen to
twenty-five thousand men. Second
stands Maine. with ten to twelve thou
sand, unless indeed the sixteen thou
sand oysternen of Virginia and the
fifteent thousand of Maryland are allowed
to swell the totals for those States.
Maine, however, stands second SO far as
the fisheries proper are concerned.
Third comes New York with about
5000 men, then New jersey with 1000
men, North Carolina with $500, Oregon
with its horde of salmon fishermen
$500 in number, Florida with 2,10O,
Connecticut and California with about
1000 each, Michigan with l,781, Wis
consin with 800, Georgia with 1,40O,
Ohio with 1,046, Delaware, Rhode
Island and South Carolina, each with
about 1000; New Hampshire, Alabama,
Louisiana and Texas with about 400
each, and Mississippi with only sixty.
The majority Of our fishermen are
born citizens of the United States,
although in certain localities there are
extensive communities Of foreigners.
Most numerous of these are the natives
of the British provinces, Of whom
there are at least four thousand en-
ployed in the fisheries of New
England. There are probably not
less than two thousand Portuguese,
chiefly natives Of the Azores and Of the
Cape de Verd Islands. Most of the
Portuguese have brought their families
with them, and have built up extensive
communities in the towns whence they
sail upon their fishing voyages. There
are also about one thousand Scandina-
vians, one thousand or more Of Irish
and English birth, a considerable num-
Der of French, Italians, Austrians, Min
ORGANS, Slavs, Greeks, Spaniards and
Germans. In the whaling feet may be
found Lascars, Malays and larger
number of Kanakas, or natives of the
various South Sea Islands. In the
whale fishery Of Southern New England
considerable number of men of par
tial Indian descent may be found, and in
the fisheries Of the great lakes-especi-
ally those of Lake Superior and the vi
cinity of observation-disclosures and Indian
half-breeds are employed.
The salmon and other fisheries OF
Puget Sound are prosecuted chiefly by
the aid of Indian fishermen. In Alaska,
where the population depends almost
entirely upon the fisheries for support,
the head Of every family lisa professional
fisherman, and upon very low estimate
one-fourth Of the inhabitants of Alaska
should DO considered as fishermen. Few
of them catch fish for the use of Others
than their own immediate dependents
Only one Chinafnan has as yet enrolled
himself among the fisherman of the At
lantic coast, but in California; ar
Oregon there are about four thousand
of these men, all Of whom, excepting
about three hundred, are employed as
factory hands in the salmon canneriet
of the Sacramento and Columbia basins
The three hundred who have the
right to lie classed among the actua1
fishermen live for the most part in Cali
fornia, and the product of their industry
is to a very great extent exported tx
China although they supply the loca
demands of their countrymen resident