Chincoteague and the Seafood Industry
Chincoteague, an island seven miles long and two miles wide, is the largest and most interesting of the many islands of the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
It lies on the Atlantic Coast just below the Maryland line and is well protected from storms and surges of the ocean by the end of the Assateague peninsula and by the Chincoteague Bay.
Can you imagine an industry so large and so powerful that over 90% of the people living there make a living by this industry? Such is the fishing industry at Chincoteague.
About one-sixth of all the seafood produced in the state of Virginia comes from a few scattered centers on the peninsula, east of the Chesapeake Bay. It is somewhat off the beaten path, a condition which is not at all unfavorable to the aims and purposes of those hardy souls who have made the names of Chincoteague, Willis Wharf and Wachapreague mean so much in the annals of the fisheries.
Fishing for many years has been and still is one of the leading industries of Chincoteague. History tells us that Mr. Lambert Ayers came with his deep sea fish pounds around 1912. His catches were so great that between 1914 and 1919 thirty-seven pounds had been settled in the ocean near the inlet. This type of fishing has proved successful and is used extensively today.
These pounds or traps consist of 23 poles which are driven in the sand about ten feet and come about ten feet above the water. The poles are tied at the top with wire cables or rope, and anchor lines are put on part of the poles to make them secure from the storms and strong tides.
The fish approach in "V" formation and follow the straight nets and poles until they come to deep water. Here the nets are shaped like a heart and the fish get in and cannot get out. They then are led into that part of the net shaped like a funnel and this leads into the pocket. The pocket makes up the larger part of the pound and will hold several hundred barrels of fish.
Trout swim at the top of the water and are easy to lift from the pounds but croakers and butters bury their noses at the bottom of the nets and this makes it very hard to lift them into the boat.
To get fish from the nets, boats go inside the funnel and the pocket, the men go around the pocket and let ropes go which hold the pocket in a square; they then go inside the pocket where they web up the net until the fish are dry, then they are taken into the boats. Men go out early in the morning so as to get the fish packed in time for the day's market.
There are about six men to a boat and there are two to ten boats belonging to one company and these men fish three or four pounds to about one boat.
The fishing season opens in most places around the twenty-fifth of March and closes the first of December.
Fish are brought from the pounds to the packing wharves. There they are sorted according to size and kind, then put into barrels -- three baskets to a barrel and 75 pounds to a basket. Ice is put in the bottom of the barrel and between each basket of fish.
Small or local lots of fish caught by pounds are shipped by express, larger lots are shipped by trucks and refrigerated cars to city markets.
Although the fish pounds are the best common way of catching fish at Chincoteague it is not the only way. Some of these ways are drift nets, hauling seine, trawlers, purse nets, fyke nets and hand line fishing.
The most popular way of catching fish for pleasure is by handline. All sorts of fish are caught here in this way. Catching Chincoteague channel bass is the sportsman's greatest fun. Many sportsman come to Chincoteague during the month of May; since this is the beginning of the fishing season. We have four weeks of excellent channel bass fishing.
A long time ago, before white men ever came to the New World, an Indian brave was lying on they shore of Delaware Bay looking intently into the water for any unwary fish that might serve as a toothsome target for his spear. As he waited, his eye was attracted to a small, peculiar looking stone which seemed to be in two slightly separated halves. He reached for it, thinking it would make an attractive gift for his squaw. But as his fingers closed around it the brave howled in dismay for the stone suddenly shut tight with a snap and imprisoned his tawny finger. Taking his tomahawk, he cleft the trap with a mighty blow and forthwith put his finger into his mouth to relieve the numbing pain. The look of anguish changed to astonishment and then to pleasure, for he had discovered the delicious flavor of one of the finest natural gifts to man -- the oyster.
Ancient shell heaps attest to the avidity with which the American Indian gathered and consumed this treasured bivalve, just as today the tremendous piles of shells besides the shucking houses where our oysters are made ready for market, speak volumes for the continued demand for these palatable mollusks. And speaking of oysters, we have happy memories of a Sunday morning on an oyster boat, where we watched the dredges bring up a load of oysters from the sparkling waters off the coast. Oysters, like other crops, are farmed with the same care and science applied to modern agriculture. Probably no other article of food is grown and marketed under more rigid sanitary control, and for this reason the housekeeper can always be assured of quality.
Oysters were first planted at Chincoteague in 1864. Until then people lived by catching terrapins and fish and by tilling the soil. So great has this industry grown that Chincoteague is today one of the largest shipping points of oysters on the Eastern Shore.
Men catch oysters by tongs and dredge. Tongs are used when the oysters are plentiful and a dredge is used when they are scattered. They go in cabin boats up and down the bays from Wallop's Island to Smith's Island to get oysters from rocks. The oysters taken by these men are generally sold to the owners of shucking and packing houses and oyster dealers. The oyster planters must have oysters less than three inches in length replanted on private grounds for eighteen months or longer. Oysters over three inches long are put on fattening grounds and are used within twelve months for shucking purposes.
After remaining on growing grounds from twelve to eighteen months the oysters are taken up by tongs and carried to the packing houses. There they are washed and thrown into bins. They are then carried to bins where they are shucked. As the oysters are opened they are separated into two grades. The large ones are called selects and the small ones standards. The shucked oysters are carried to the packer, who washes them and puts them in gallon cans. These cans are put in barrels which have crushed ice in them.
Oysters in small quantities are shipped by express while larger shipments are made by car lots. Chincoteague ships about 175,000 gallons during the season.
With this favorite delicacy so readily available, especially during the months with an "R", the oyster lover will be glad to know that he need no longer like oysters solely for their own sake but also because they are good for him.
Of all the seafoods taken from the waters of Accomack County, clams furnish men with more work than any other. The clamming industry is the largest and most powerful of all the seafoods on the Eastern Shore.
There are many ways to catch clams: one by signing, another by wading and then by tonging.
To sign clams men go out on mud and sand flats on low water and look for clam signs they make, that are like key holes or little curls. Then they dig down about three inches to find the clams. A clam rake with two prongs is used to dig them out.
Men sign clams during early spring and fall. We are told that the best time to sign clams is when worms come out of the ground. Clams can only be signed when the tide has gone out and the flats are uncovered.
During late spring and summer many men catch clams by wading them out. They do this by going out in water about waist high and feeling the clams out with their toes. They go in a small boat and put the clams in that to take them to the wharves to sell to the clam dealers. The men wear moccasins made of coarse cloth to keep their feet from being cut by sharp shells. Some men are so skilled that they make as much as eight dollars a day during the wading season.
Clams are planted in the spring on sand flats and stay until fall or winter. They grow an average size from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch during this time. After they have grown to a proper size, they are taken up and shipped to the large markets.
Few men catch crabs for a living. However many people like to go out on the water and catch crabs for pleasure.
Crabs are caught by handline, trawl line and dredge. The first of these methods is used for catching small quantities for private use, but the other two methods are used to catch larger quantities for shipment.
There are laws telling us what kinds of crabs and what size to catch. It is not lawful to catch crabs under four inches in size, and we are not allowed to catch sponge crabs.
Most of the crabs shipped from the Eastern Shore are sent to Chrisfield, Md. There are no crab factories in Accomack County whereas Chrisfield is so close and they have their own canneries. Very few soft crabs are shipped as they are too perishable to ship at any great distance.
Scallops are found on grass beds and flats and are taken up, just as oysters are. They are taken up with dredge, patent rakes or picked up. Scallops, like oysters, are opened and just the hearts are packed to ship. These are put in gallon cans and then packed with ice, eight pounds are put in a gallon; they are also put up in half gallon and quart cans.
Diamond back terrapins are in great demand and are the most valuable of all seafood. Terrapins are caught with nets in the small streams here. Men find them by the sign they make in the mud. When they see a blue puffy place in the mud they dig down and find the terrapin.
The season for catching terrapins opens August 15 and closes May 15. During this time some men catch terrapins and some of them put them in wire pens and they are kept there until they grow larger. The wire of the pen must be buried down in the mud about 15 inches or the terrapins will dig their way out. They are kept in these pens until shipping season.
Because of the natural wealth found in the waters around our little island, thousands of dollars are realized each year through the seafood industry.
Sportsman's paradise! Truly Chincoteague has all the essential elements that go in the making of one. It is not strange that people who come once nearly always return. Once they have the island sand in their shoes they return again and again.