The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-05-13
The Sturg eon Fishery
Neglected Industry That May Be Made Of Great Value
b. CHARLES MINOR BlA cKFoRD, hi b. !

gcon III American WlterS nus Deen at
tracing tho earnest attention OF oil VINO
IRE Interested III such matters for u NUM-
Der Of years past. The decline has not
been confined to America, however. but
1t has Occurred wherever tho fish IS an
object Of capture, While the money value
OF tho Industry Is such as to make It's
preservation and Increase we'll worth Sc
rlous efforts. The Chief sturgeon fisheries
III America are III the Della ware River
and Bay, tho Great Lakes, South Caro-
Ina aud the Columbia River, though
other localities take part In the Industry
to a greater or loss extent. In 1901. tho
catch III virginia was 1s3,G,3 pounds,
valued ut s12.16l. besides the production
Of 1878 po,,nds of caviar, worth s1o2o4,
making II total value Of s22, 1865. From
these figures, which are probably below
the actual Output, 1t cnn be seen that
the sturgeon presents great possibilities
especially MS. tho diminishing supply from
other sources viii incronse tho demand
and the prices for tho Virginia product At
present the Delaware fishery exceeds all
the others combined, but conditions IN
the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays are
SO nearly alike that there seems no GOOD
reason why IN equally valuable Industry
should not be built up In the more south
ern wat erB. pM# Gtt
'rhe early settlers In this country were
Erca tly} impressed by the numbers of stur-
Eccr seen in the rivers, and their letters
end reports contain frequent references
expressive Of their wonder. The Della
River seems to have been most nboundant-
aly stocked with them, and men who are
not yet over sixty-flve years old, say that
after they reached manhood. 1t was not
uncommon to 500 several sturgeon leap
out Of tho river during a passage from
Philadelphia to Camden, Mr.. William
z. N1eellan, In Irish, Fishing ana
Fisheries Of Pennsylvania" quotes Mr.
Samuel Williams, Of Burlington, N. j..
then in his elghty-fourth year, as saying
TINT on ono occasion when 10y, he
went with his father on n shad fishing
expedition to the lower Delaware. and on
the trip he saw thousands OF the huge
fish Great numbers became entnngled
in the shad nets and once his father and
his companions had to take In their nets
with the greatest speed to keep them from
being utterly destroyed. and as It was,
in spite of every effort, many fnthoms
OF not were demolished by the surgeons.
The fish passed their boats in such
quantities that In a little while they had
killed and secured eleven, which was as
many as they could take home, but as
the run continued, they killed as many as
they could, rs It was a fish Of slight
value In itself and nuisance to the
fishermen because OF the damage done
to the nets. Another story that illus
sratcs still more WILDLY tho abundance
OF the fish is quoted from Mr.. John Fen
5njmore. He says that many years ngo
there was little steamer named the
Sally that ran on the Delaware above
philadelphia On each side near the
bow there were two large round windows
that were often left open In the summer.
& Ono day while the Sally was on one OF her
trips, q large sturgeon made such a leap
as to pass through one Of these windows
ana fall within the vessel, where It was
captured and killed.
Such stories arc quite common. and
many Of them are thoroughly well au-
thenticated. The fish was very nbun-
dant, but was inotaat alllFappreclatodI ny
the people anywhere In America. Few
people ate sturgeon except some of the
negroes though occasionally family
would fry some steaks and serve them
with cream. The roe was esteemed
worthless except as a bait for cells or
perch or to feed to the hogs, and from
two to four cents a pound was all that
could DO obtained at retail for the meat.
An entire fish rarely brought more than
twenty-five or thirty cents. IN the lat
: ter twenties Mr.. John Fennimore, VINO
was quoted above, began fishing with
nets for sturgeon at Dunk's lFerry-now
Bristol. Pa He and two other lhsheI-
men used 12-inch mesh and drew their
nets over tho bar on the Pennsylvania
side often taking as many ns thirty at
n haul. The fish brought very little
money, however, often selling as low as
1912 cents apiece, and the industry was
of slow growth. 1t cannot be definitely
determined when the sturgeon fishery
was taken up on considerable scale,
but Benedict Blohm, Of Penns Grove
N. j., was tho first man IN America 10
nut in caviar, which he dldNin 1893.
THO business struggled along, but owing
10 tho proiudice against surgeons flesh
and tho popular distastc for caviar, the
nrces were unprontably low for many
Years. In 1857 the smoking OF sturgeon $
flesh was begun In Il small way IN ne"
york clty and a little later In Philn-
Ielnh,a. and the taste for the meat be-
gan to extend ~, :,
The freshly caught fish Weer sold TO
reddlcrs, who dressed them ana peualeh
the meat through the ne'ghoorlhs co"',-
try, Gut after being smoked u was poss'-
Tie TO transport 1t for greater distances
and a fairly steady demand arose al re-
r,uncrativo prices. though 1T was not
until after 1870 that the industry expanded
very rapidly. In 1873 Henry schaoht,
of Chester, Pa, began using the gu! nets
for sturgeon. He located at first on
Ridley Creek. but few years later nc
purchased Monas Island, opposite Ches-
ter. where he built pen OF pies ~
which he could put the fish and keep
them alive until prices were satisfactory,
by which means he avoided Cutting MS
slender market
Cill net fishing soon began to DO pop
ulur. and 1t is practically universal now
The nets average about 2SO fathoms IN
length, and 81 feet or % meHhes IN DEPTH
ana are worth all rugged ready for the
water, about SIS each. liz stating the
mesh Of n net the length of the diagonal
and not that OF side OF the opening Is
stated, and nt present thirteen inch
mesh is generally employed, Some ten
or twelve years ago the sixteen inch mesh
uoa used. hut the number OF large stur-