The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-30
JLODSTERS ARE RARE.
y
They Are Liable To
Run Short In
Worcester.
"a
old FISHERMAN TALKS.
Efforts Will Be Made To
Transplant a
Supply.


That is what the fish dealers say and
they ought to know.
Notwithstanding the efforts of the
United States fish commission to re-
stock the waters along the New Eng
land coast with Holsters, the annual
supply of 100000 pounds from Maine
is nearly exhausted, and the govern
ment, having become alarmed, has sent
the fish commission steamer Grampus, |
Capt. Griffin, along the south coast to
buy female Holsters and transplant
them at the hatcheries in Gloucester.
The relative scarcity of this erusta |
cean has cause an increase in price of
the canned article in every Maine town.
and the prices now are higher than
ever before.
Fifteen years ago the annual catch
Of Holsters along the New England
coast exceeded 100000 900, and over l5,-
900 men were employed in the industry.
OF this business Maine furnished more
than one-half, but today over so per
cent of the canned HOLSTERS are brought
from the British provinces.
An old lobster fisherman, who for
years has followed the business, said
the other day that when he began the
life, Holsters were regarded as a nui-
sance, because of their interference
with fish bait, and often they were de-
stroyed as ruthlessly as crabs are to-
day. The farmers along the coast
would drive down to the waters edge
at low tide and fork them UP on their
wagons in great numbers. They were
then shipped to market and sold at a
ridiculously low price-4 cents pound
at wholesale in New York.
The lobster as a dish soon grew in
general appreciation, and then the fish,
ermen found more profit in gathering
them than in trolling for fish. Then
the canning factories began to be erect
ed on the coast, and rapidly extended
the consumption of the Holsters. AS the
industry increased, the canning fac
tories multiplied, until the high-water
mark of the lobster canning business
was reached, in about 1885, when the
output of the Maine factories was over
100000 pounds, representing a value
of $1,000
Today the lobster industry has de-
clined to such point that it may never
again play such an important part in
the commerce of the country, unless the
present object of the fish commission is
accomplished. The latter established
fish hatchery at Woods Holl, Mass,
three years ago, and since it was put in
operation, one of the vessels belonging
to the department at Washington has
made annual trips to the Maine coast
for seed Holsters to transplant them at
the hatchery. Other hatcheries have
been put in operation along the
coast but no big results have been OBJ
tanned.
THE lobster is slow to grow" said
the old salt, land then, too, they have
so many enemies in the water that the
percentage which ever reaches matur-
lty is necessarily small. In the early
days of the lobster industry only large
ones were taken by the fishermen,
These were so abundant that the small
ones were ignored. In those days a
single lobster filled two or three cans,
While today it takes several of the av-
erage size to fill the can. Even in the
British provinces, where the canning
industry thrives the best, most Of the
large Holsters have been killed, and the
managers of the factories calculate up
on from three to five Holsters to fill a
can. A fifteen-pounder would be big
curiosity. Only a month ago a lobster
weighing eighteen pounds was taken
near Portland, and it was such a Curl
osity that it was sent to a museum in
Boston. There is a lobster preserved
in the Smithsonian Institution that
weighed eighteen pounds when it was
captured, and thosv who have seen it
declare that it was a young one who
had not attained its full growth when
taken.
Reliable records show that speci-
mems weighing from thirty to thirty
five pounds were captured Such a
lobster would measure nearly five feet
long, including claws, and prove
mighty formidable antagonist for one
in the water"
Capt. Griffin of the Grampus says he
had no trouble in getting enough fe-
male Holsters from the fishermen. The
steamer takes a trip each day to the
fishing grounds and buys up all the
female Holsters at a good price. The
fishermen are much more willing to
catch female Holsters than they were
some years ago, on account Of the nigh
price paid by the government for
them. Formerly the men would take a
female with eggs attached, and, scra-
ping the eggs from her, release her
The eggs were considered as much of
deicacy as shad roe nowadays.
THE work of catching the lobster is
nothing compared with the Matching"
said Capt. Griffin. "The work of hatch
ing the young ones at the different sta
lions ends about the first of July. The
female lobster breeds once only in two
years, but she makes up for this loss
of time by producing a great number
of eggs. A ten-inch lobster will pro-
duce in one season about 10000 eggs,
while a nineteen-inch one will give over
$4,000. 1t does not, at this rate, require
great number of female Holsters to
produce several million eggs a year.
New England and Canada make it pun
shable TO capture eggbearing lob
sters
I'VE take these eggs to the hatch
cries, where they are kept in Matching
Jars, filed with water heated to the
proper temperature, until they hatcn
out. The young creatures when Matched
are less than an inch long, and for a
time they swim as ordinary fish. They
are turned loose when they are an inch
or two long, and then begin their per-
ilous life in the waters of the coast
"a large percentage of them never
pass beyond the stages of infancy, and
the few which survive this period are
then compelled to face new dangers in
cident to the shedding process. Every
now and then the crustacean finds that
he is outgrowing the shell, sheds it, and
takes on another one, much as the crab
does. This process is dangerous, and
for time the creature Is weak and
helpless. Every part of the armor must
be removed, and in the process the an
imal becomes weak and thin, and the
fishermen do not consider them fit to
eat. Before the old shell has been dis
carded a new thin one has been provid-
ed, but 1t takes a long time to make it
of much protective benefit.
There are few things in the water
which can overcome full-fledged lob
ster, and he apparently knows it, for
he does not hesitate to attack one of
his enemies OF the days OF his infancy,
and he squeezes and cracks them with
infinite pleasure. He will hunt for fish |
and CLAIMS all day, digging up the mud
and cracking the shells Of the CLANS |
with ease. When clans are SCARCE theI
Holsters lie in wait for fish AntRrfaeral