The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-10-11
LOBSTER INDUSTRY WAVES.
NC DEMAND MAKES sUPPLN sCANT
AND PRICES HIGH.


Number of Pounds CauEht-How
Lobst~rs Are Caught aud shipped.
From the New York sun
II the PEOPLE along the Atlantic sea-
board continue 20 eat Holsters with the
increasing fondness which has charact-
erizcd them Tor thc ast twenty yeas ths
delicious erus,accan will become So rare
that only The rich viii ho able 60 indulge
their fondnes for a. Stree 1851 the avcraEe
Wholesale price per pound Tor .obstcrs ha
increased over sol per cent The humble
OF pounds caught has decreased largely
ana despite the enor,s made legally GO
protect this fishery there are evidence
that il Is IN danger Of extinc,ion.
Tho home 81 the lobster d 10 Maine
Ever since the old Puritans came over 20
Now England's rock-bound coast the lob.
atcr has been standard article % New
England diet AZ fret as the settlement
were an strung along thc coast each FAM.
lY secured its own supply. but as the ven
turCsOme settlers moved inland there de-
veloped the beginning 81 tho lobster in-
dustry Certain persons began 10 make
their living hy catching aud selllng lob
STEERS and the industr has grown until
now thousands Of men orc employed AMI
hundreds Of thousands Of dollar invest.
"a In it.
owing 10 the formation OF the coast 90
Maine Holsters are 60 BE found there 90
greater abund1uc. than IN any other rlae'
in the United statcs Tho lobster loves
rocky bottom. such az Is found along the
more easterly coast lin OF Maine. There
arc numerous bays ana rivers dotted Win
large and small ISLANDS which form cN-
ctlicnt breeding grounds
In tho early days Of the fishery u was
customary 10 nsh only during the spring
ana fan In the spring. a. the waters 20
the bay and the rivers warm M, the lob
stcrs came into comparltivciy shallow
water. and before their numbers had been
So greatly depleted they could be taken
frequently ~ 'ow water 10 dip nets but
they are now found In the summer IN
depths from three 10 fifteen fathoms IN
tho numerous passages between inc u
lands and the mainland ana IN the lower
reaches OK the bays and rivers. When
winter time comes tho lobster hustles our
20 sea al depths Of from nfteeu 20 af}
fathoms In tho old days this used 70 PRO
tect him. but not 30 NOW. lie has become
50 valuable that the fishermen keep iigni
after him all winter Ions
HOLSTERS are caught in what tho fisher
men call pots A rot Is frame work
made Of laths. II IS usually about feet
long. feet wide and IS inches high There
are openings into the rot az each end
Tho ends are made % coarse twinc ana
are funnel shaped The smaller and inner
ends measure about six inches In diameter
ana are held open by means Of wire rings
Tfese tunnels are fastened hy the larger
ends 10 tho end frames 81 the pot with
the shorter side upperm0si. so thar When
they arc 81 place they lead obliquely up
ward into the pot instead % Horizontally
The tunnels are ahut = inches deep ana
taTer rapidly forming AZ inclined plane
IN which the Holsters must climb. Inside
the pot. fastened 20 a spear head on the
bottom. Is the bait This IS usually halibuf.
herring or cod head. usually saltcd slight
h.. However. almost any kind of nsh will
do Thee pots are let down 70 the hot
tom Of the water and are held in place
bv stones inside The lobster has very
keen scent and smelling tho bait, he PRO
Gods To investigate The result is that
he climbs into the funnel through me IN
ner opening and drops down into the pot
Then he f. done for. and the next thing
We hear Of him he "a being served IN some
restaurant after the theatre
other kinds Of traps have been tried
but none has proved as successful as the
enc lust described Tho lobster has
great habit Of climbing all over tho pots
before he sticks his nose into the funnel
Some genius conceived a trap with trap
door on tho TOP. when a lobster scrambled
over the tor the door gave way and In
he foll While this idea seemed excel
lent IL has never found favor with the
Maine lobster chasers.
In the warm season the pots are fire.
oucntly set on travis. Is the HOLSTERS are
quite thick then on tho rocky bottom near
shore In the frawl method. the pots arc
usually set about thirty feet apart de-
pending on the depth % the water. SO
that when one pot BE- la the boat the ner
will be on the bottom. In the Old days
the trawl system was very much more
in favor than now because the HOLSTERS
v ere more plentiful. Nowadays. the pots
arc generally set siugly and shifted after
each catch. as u has been found that bet
ter results are thus obtained.
The pots are generally hauled once p
day but sometimes twice a day In good
weather the number OF pots used by a
fisherman varies greatly on the different
Parts OF the coast. When conditions are
favorable the fisherman does not use as
many pots as when he finds that HOLSTERS
are scarce The regular lobster fisher
man has steadily increased the number
% his pots Tor several years lie has
found this an absolute necessity iu order
to catch as many Holsters now as he
caught twenty years ago n De- not unusual
now 10 ind q fisherman handling as high
as 100 pots and sometimes even l25. when
a few years ago twenty-five or nifty pots
was a large number.
Iohatere are brought 20 the market In