The Portland daily press., 1898-10-29
THE LOBSTER BUSINESS.
About $50 Fishermen Find 1t Pr0tita-
BILE in CascO Bay.

{ stch in easco Bay Amounted to near
Iy 10000 in fptember--Ap ou.
5000 Worth of Holsters Shipped
From Portland Last moh'h-AHo
Smelt Fisheries.
Something like $50 men MAKE ousi.
ness of catching Holsters IN Culo pef i'n"
county alone, and the most OIL these s'ie
of course man who live on the shores u
Casco nav. In the month OF September,
according to the figures furnished the
PRESS by Fish Warden Gribben, who
keeps track of all lobster arrivals ana
sbip1nents here, 37s, 1874 Holsters were
brouobt iutoPortland and the figures this
month will probably be larger than this.
OF this numter 50, 5s3 were boat
Io5sters' or ca, G in Casco bay.
ssThe lobster business is rapidly on the
increase in Maine - Mr. Gribben sald
Yesterday. 'tMore men are finding en-
nloyment in the lobster fisheries in this
state every year AMI more Holsters are
being caughsgand shipped out of the state.
The Portland dealers are finding their
business charging every year. They now
supply the markets OF St Louis, Chicago
Minneapolis and other towns still farther
west and their heaviest Z, shipments OF
O purse are to New York city. The she'd
ding season is about over now ana
Holsters are very plentiful. Many people
wonder why it is that when Holsters are
abundant the prices do not drop to cor
responding figure. This is because the
dealers have big pounds in, which the
Holsters are placed when they are plenty
and held for the month of March and
other seasons of the year when Holsters
are scarce. There are probably all the
way from SOC, 900 to 900, 600 Holsters in
pounds now all along the coast Of Maine.
These pounded Holsters have to be we'll
fed on fish and the people who have
charge of the pounds have to be very
careful not to over feed them for if they
do the Holsters will die with alarming
rapidity.
sThe fishermen get on an average of
ten cents piece for Holsters all the year
round and some of them make a good
thing out of the business. OF course the
fishermen do not devote all OF their time
to lobster catching. Some OF them are
now giving up clustering for time and
are going smelling. This pays pretty
well at this time Of the year. The smelts
are not so very plentiful because they are
mixed up with small herring, which are
worth very little. Yesterday there were
AZ boxes of smelts brought here on the
Phantom and shipped to New York. On
an average of 10 boxes of smelts day go
through Portland being shipped to Bes-
ton and New York markets from East
port, Yarmouth and Portland. Smells
are eight cents pound and there are
about so pounds to a boz, SO you see that
as each man shi ps one or two boxes every
day he is making good thing out of this
work !"
"Tne consumption of Holsters is on the
increase and as this fish inorea ses In
numbers and become more plentiful the
demand constantly increases There are
now seven steamers owned and operated
by Portland firms which make two OF
three trips here week with Holsters
which they have gathered up along ths
coast from the fishermen or pound keep
ers, besides any number Of small schoon
ers. We are not getting any Nova Scotia
l,bsters now. The law in Nova Scotia
protects Holsters from July to January
and in January it is SO stormy that the
lobster smacks do not find it very profit
able to attempt the long and hard voyage
to Nova Scotia after these fish. under
stand that In March when Holsters get
scaroe Mr.. Willard, who owns several
steamers intends to make 9 trip to Nova
Scotia after some of the losbters there,
but l don't know how much truth there
is in this story. Ths smacks from here
do not start for the Nova Scotia Holsters
as u general thing. until well along in
April
'No Holsters are being canned in Maine
now," continued Mr. dFibben. stOnce
this was big business here, but the
short lobster law killed it in this state.
The Gamers do not find it profitable to
buy Holsters at their present rates and
they can't purchase short ones. Nearly
all Of the canning business is now done
in Nova Scotia though believe the
catching of short Holsters is restricted to
certain part Of the coast there
The Iobstersarrivals in Portland yester-
day were IS follows. \. s. Willard. 77O0:
Lottie May, $500; Minnie and Carr, 81.
600; Deliver, 1000; Eva Martin, $500;
Carrie ard Mildred, 5000. The Bernie a.. d
Bessie also arrived during the afternoon
but the number of Holsters they brought
were not reported
A new lobster firm has commenced
business on Commercial wharf. 1t is
located in the building formerly occupied
by e. G.. Willard. This firm will operate