The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-04-28
NAMES DELICIOUS CRUSTACEANS.
Commissioner Counce Talks About
the Lobster Law,
Showing the Folly of DESTROYING the
Little Fellows.
How an Ingenious Maine Firm Sup
plies the Market.
Especial to the Press.


AUGUSTA, April 27.-Commissioner OF Sea
and Shore Fisheries Counce, while on visit
to Augusta recently, was seen by your cor
respondent concerning Holsters and the law
regulating their capture and sale. While he
does not regard the close time from Aug. 1st
to Sept 10Th of vital Importance. he believes
that the section limiting the length to 1Oa
inches is doing effective service in the pres
eryation of this valuable and much sought
after crustaeean. Twenty-Five million lob
sters year are captured and sold on the
Maine coast, yet it Iis estimated by Mr.. Tre-
fethen that not over 100000 can be taken
without detriment to the supply. Mr.. Counce
said: "a lobster that is inches long in the
spring will grow to 1Oa inches in one season,
increasing in value from four to five hundred
per cent. If the small Holsters are caught
and sold to the factories in the spring, they
bring from to II cents each, while If cast
back into the sea and allowed to grow they
will reach 1O1 inches in length and be worth
12 cents Another reason why the young
e-inch Holsters should not be used is that a
healthy 9-inch lobster never has any eggs at
tached to it, while the 10a inch crustacean
has from $4,000 to $4,000 each: 1t VIII be
III.
lobster is destroyed before it comes to hav-
ing eggs, propagation cannot be carried on
IL would be Just as good policy for the farm
er to kill his chickens be 'ause they annoy
him when he feeds the hens, as 1t Is for the
fishermen TO destroy the short Holsters be-
cause they get into his trap and eat his bait
The great difficulty we have to contend with
is the New York market, where there is no
law regulating the length OF lobsters sold
Short Holsters have been secretly shipped
md hn Un
times been in bad condition before reach ng
their destination One warden informs me
that he saw Holsters which were being snip
ped to New York which were actually often
sivs"
| of a lobster speculation which has been car
ried on successfully the past season by john
| son q Young OF Ninalhaven. They have a
| large pound, so-called, which is pond OF
| water several acres in extent, connected with
the sea, the outlet being closed to the pas,
| sage of Holsters by wire netting Last fall
| they purchased 100000 10a inch Holsters OF
| the fishermen at cents leach. and placed
| them in the pound. They must have food,
| and to satisfy their hunger were fed on fish
| cleanings, consisting of inwards, fms and
| heads, which were purchased at 81 barrel.
| Seven hundred barrels of this was fed to
| them in all. At once, after winter had set
| in. the Holsters were raked from tue bottom
| of the pound as wanted, many being found
| in the mud at depth Of two feet, and snip
ped by rail from Rockland to the Boston
market at the rate of about 25 barrels per
day. To reach the she'll fish it was necessa-
ry to cut holes through the icesand keep
| them open. The price received was some 20
cents pound, and as the HOLSTERS would
weigh from two to three pounds each, ana
tha original cost was but four cents apiece,
fhe % profit was very handsome one These
fed Holsters were said to be OF very superior
quality,