524 



GEOGEAPHICAL EEVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



Deiaihd statement of capital invested, and apparatus employed. 



Detailed statement of the quantities and values of the products. 



B. THE PRINCIPAL FISHERY DISTRICTS DESCRIBED. 



189. FERNANDINA AND ITS FISHERIES. 



THE FISHERIES OF FERNANDINA. Fernaudiuu, the principal coast town of Eastern Florida, 

 is situated on tlie west sbore of Amelia Island, and bas about 3,000 inhabitants. It was settled 

 by the Spaniards in 1632, and still has a large Spanish population. Its harbor is one of the largest 

 and among the best in the South. The fisheries of the place are of little importance for other than 

 local supply, and the fishermen use only the cast-net and hook and line in the capture of the dif- 

 ferent species. They fish wholly from small boats in the harbor and river, seldom crossing the bar 

 to fish along the outer shore. 



There are about twenty-five men in the two settlements, or the upper and lower towns as they 

 are called, who depend largely on the water for a livelihood, with twenty others who fish occasion- 

 ally during the winter months. 



In addition to the boat fisheries of the place, several Northern vessels occasionally visit the 

 region, and fish along the outer shore between Savannah and Saint Augustine, selling their catch 

 in Jacksonville and Savannah, or shipping it to the Northern markets. These usually make their 

 headquarters at Fernandiua. In the winter of 1S79-'SO there were three smacks engaged in this 

 fishery for a few weeks, but the business was soon discontinued, not from any scarcity of fish, as 

 we are told, but from the lack of any suitable market and the want of energy on the part of the 

 crews. One of the smacks is said to have stocked $472 between the 7th and 27th of January. 

 There are excellent fishing banks a few miles outside of the harbor, extending along the coast for 

 miles in either direction. Parties from Jacksonville and Feruandiua occasionally resort to these 

 banks in vessels or steamers for pleasure-fishing, and bring in large numbers of blackflsh and 



