Virginia, 1492-1892 a brief review of the discovery of the continent of North America, with a history of the executives of the colony and of the commonwealth of Virginia in two parts |
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 | CXVI. Virginia, 1492-1892 |  |
Fisheries.
The crab fisheries still continue a fruitful source of revenue to the
people in a limited area of the Chesapeake. The earnings from this
source, reckoned on the basis of men employed and capital invested,
exceed slightly that derived from oysters, and the business seems to be
growing larger and larger every year.
Black bass, silver, white, and sun perch, southern, white, and horned
chub, mullet, carp, pike, suckers, flat-back gar, mason, and whitesides,
and eels can be found of good size in the rivers. Tidewater, independent
of the great herring, shad, and menhaden fisheries (where 100,000 are
caught at a haul), has a fine list of table fish caught and shipped to market
the same day—sturgeon, rock, sheepshead, hogfish, trout, mullet, spots,
bass, chub, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, croker, halibut, and others.
The fish, like the fruit of Virginia, has the advantage of an earlier
opening than the North has for marketing. Oysters are found in all the
tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast, giving to
Tidewater an exclusive territory, where this valuable shell-fish grows
naturally, and where it can be propagated and reared in almost any
desired quantity.
Major Hotchkiss, in his work on Virginia, says that it is estimated
that more than 15,000,000 bushels are taken annually from the beds of
Tidewater Virginia, valued at from $12,000,000 to $15,000,000. In 1869
over 5,000 small boats and 1,000 vessels, of over five tons burthen, were
employed in taking oysters from the water, and 193 State and 309 other
vessels, 18,876 tons aggregate burthen, were engaged in carrying them to
market. For some years the supply has been growing less and the
demand greater. Under the present system of depletion, the supply will
soon be inadequate to the demand, and the prices will be higher. The
person who has a well-stocked oyster shore can command ready sale, at
good prices. There is no reason why the artificial propagation of oysters
should not be conducted on a larger scale. In France there are oyster
farms that pay an annual profit of $500 or $600 per acre. Virginia's
Lynnhaven and Chesapeake stand at the head of the list for market, while
others claim equal excellence. Just now there is much discussion about
protecting the natural beds, and larger planting, if necessary, for increasing
the revenue of the State.
| CXVI. Virginia, 1492-1892 | |