CAPS MAY COUNTY TIMES, SEA ISLB CITY, N. J.

Friday, April 6,1917

On tae lteach at Sea Isle City, son«h of Ocean Pier

CAPE MAY COUNTY’S FISHING INTERESTS. Of the countless thousands who each year visit the hustling resorts of the New Jersey coast, and of Cape May county in particular, there is nothing which appeals to the taste or offers more genuine pleasure and substantial satisfaction than iish and lishing in general. The Philadelphia and shore dinner table, from the most exclusive hotel down fo the humblest home, does daily honor and tribute to the immense catches taken from the waters of Cape May county adjacent to Anglesea, Holly Beach, atone Harbor, Sea Isle City, Cape May ana along the bay shore. While Cape May couijty does not compete so vigorously with the abundance of shell-lish taken in the waters of Cumberland and Atlantic counties, she is otherwise supreme as to fishing interests and annually ships to the great iisn Oistribuung markets 01 Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore an average of 100,01)0 barrels of deep sea denizens. Another 50,000 barrels are carried away in baskets by the thousands of hshermen who seek the shore for a day 01 sport as well as 01 prontA barrel of packed fish weighs 200 pounas, ana consequently makes a seasons average eaten run close to 30,000,000 pounds; which,-hgurea at a flat wholesale rate of 4 cents a pouna, represents $1,200,000. However, the bulk ol this catch brings retail from 10 to 20 cents a pound, and which eventually makes an average season s catch bring more than twice this amount. Thirty-two pound nets are operated in the county. Anglesea, on Hereford Inlet, directly across from Stone Harbor, leads all the resorts of Uie New Jersey coast A fleet of 60 auxiha. ’ power boats ol an average of 20 tons, employing 200 men, a score or more capable hlt'c 20-loot bank skills, manned by iwo men to a cralt, several purse net auxiliary schooners and two uig pound nets daily deliver the good:, m such vast quantities to the Anglesea ash platform mat ofttimes a hundred men are busiiy engageu in icing, packing and loading the catch 01 weaktish, sea bass, porgies, flounders, blue lish and mackerel into freight cars, which are despatched at all hours of the day and night. Oftentimes when there is a big run on, several hundred barrels of iish will be loaded on the fast shore expresses, and the sight of a string of 10 vestibuled coaches tilled with passengers impatiently awaiting at Anglesea, while the many barrels are being loaded for rapid transportation to an eagerly awaiting market, is no unusual sight indeed. Holly Beach is only less important to Angle-

sea in its Ashing industry, with an extensive pound net, three miles off the beach, and a fleet of 40 power skiffs la inched from the beach and making daily catches; upward df 75,000 barrels of fish are shipped in a aea*on_fromJjhis point. Sea Isle" City fishermen have been e xtremely ‘successful with their pound nets, of which 10 are operated, and in conjunction with a dozen bank skiff fishermen who launch their boats from the beach, the same as is done at Holly Beach, from 300 to 500 barrels of fish are sent to the markets daily during the fishing season. ' Cape May, likewise Ocean City, have professional fishing fleets, w hile Corson’s and Townsend’s Inlets cater to thousands of daily excursionists and other amateur fishermen. The bay shore and meadows are the homes of many professional fishermen.

BACK BAY FISHING INTERESTS. While the foregoing largely treats of the commercial side of the fishing interests on the ocean front. Cape May county has a lesser but more picturesque industry pursued largely in Per back bays and channels. It is here where the lone ovsterman and dimmer delves with lomp and rake for the well-knawn “Little Neck, the clam which is a favorite item of most table d’hote dinners. The clammer- of Cape May county comprise a colonv of some 1500 men, who delve in the waters of Ludlam’s Bay. near Sea Isle City, m Great Sound, and the channels adjacent to Stone Harbor, in Grassy Sound adjacent to Wildwood, and in the channels leading off from Cold Spring Inlet at Cape May. The clam is only obtained after the most arduous toil, in some case? dredging is earned on bv individuals in water 25 feet deep, while again the clam is raked out of the tide water flats with a rake and much effort, one at a time. Even at this rate, many dammera derive an income of $2 to $5 on a tide. While the output fluctuates from season to season, the county nrbduees approximately 20,000 bushels of clams a year, which brings the dammera an average of’$5 a thousand for primes, and less for culls. While there are some oyster beds on the ocean side of the county, the bulk of the “Cape May Salts” is gathered on the bay side of the county in close proximity to Maurice River Cove and the Cohansey River. # „ While in his annual report Chief Charles K. Bacon, of the State Bureau of Shell Fisheries, makes no ref.. -ce apparently to the shell fisheries of Cape May county, the report shows that part of the 24.000 acres of oyster beds in the Delaware Bay and Maurice River Cove division He within from seven to 20 miles of the ocean. This, therefore, embraces much of that section of Cape May county lying against the bay, and which otherwise furnishes excellent tidewater flats, ideal for the propagation of the oyster, and which industry is each year being further developed.

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THOMAS L LUDLAM, Jr- Vke Pres, k Mgr.

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