522 GEOGRAPHICAL EEVIBW OF THE FISHERIES. 



although very shallow, are often navigable by boats and shoal-draught vessels for their entire 

 length. In the still water of these lagoons many of the salt-water species find an agreeable change 

 from the rougher water outside, some coming in to spawn, while others are led to enter the inlets- 

 in pursuit of food. During the winter months immense quantities of fish may be found in these 

 places, but in summer the water becomes so warm that most of them are driven out into the sea. 



The saltness of the water varies greatly, being wholly dependent upon the amount of rainfall 

 in the locality. During seasons of continued drought the lagoons are fed from the ocean, when 

 they become very salt. During the rainy seasons, however, they are often quite fresh, except at 

 and near the inlets. It is said that in 1863 Indian River was even salter than the ocean, and salt- 

 works were established on its banks; but during our visit, in the fall of 1880, after two rainy 

 seasons, the water at Titusville was so fresh that we failed to detect any brackish flavor, and the 

 animals of the region drank it freely. The freshening of the water has a decided influence on its 

 fauna. The oysters of an entire bay are at times wholly destroyed, while the fish are driven to- 

 the inlets, where the water is always more or less salt. An excellent opportunity is thus given 

 for extensive fisheries, as immense quantities offish can readily be taken with suitable apparatus. 



THE SAINT JOHN'S RIVEE. Just beyond these salt or brackish lagoons of the shore, at a> 

 distance varying from 10 to 30 miles, lies the Saint John's River. It is fed by thousands of square 

 miles of shoal grassy swamps, in which the river takes its rise. It is a sluggish stream, extending 

 through nearly 3 of latitude, and by means of its numerous and intricate windings the water is 

 carried about 400 miles before it reaches the sea. It is navigable by small inland steamers for 

 fully 350 miles. In its central portion the river often expands into small lakes several miles in 

 extent, and as suddenly contracts into a mere creek only a few rods wide. In its lower third it is 

 merely a succession of shallow lakes, from 2 to 15 miles in breadth. It is said that the river has 

 but 4 feet of fall during its entire course. For this reason the current is usually quite sluggish, 

 and the ocean tide extends to Lake George, situated 158 miles from the sea, while the water is 

 usually brackish for a considerable distance beyond Jacksonville. 



188. STATISTICAL RECAPITULATION. 



The fisheries of Eastern Florida are so different from those of that portion of the State bor- 

 dered by the Gulf of Mexico that it has been thought desirable to treat them separately. If the 

 entire State be considered, Florida takes the fifteenth place on the list, having, in 1880, 2,480 fisher- 

 men, producing $636,378 worth of fishery products. The principal fisheries are at Key West, where 

 a fleet of twenty-one vessels is employed in the capture of groupers and red snappers for the Havana 

 market. The sponge fisheries of the United States are confined exclusively to the west coast of 

 Florida, where, according to Mr. Silas Stearns, special agent in charge of the fisheries of the Gulf 

 States, one hundred sail of vessel are engaged in the business, the value of the sponges taken in 

 1880 amounting to $200,750. The mullet fisheries also are of peculiar importance, the catch for the 

 Gulf coast of the State, according to Mr. Stearns, being over four times that of Eastern Florida. 

 The catch for the entire State in 1880 reached 3,494,333 pounds, valued at $123,508. Nearly half 

 of the mullet taken in the United States are caught in Florida waters. 



Along the Atlantic coast the fishing is chiefly with hook and line or cast-nets for local supply, 

 though in the Indian River 88,250 pounds of green turtle, valued at $6,000, were taken, the major- 

 ity being shipped to the Northern markets. The shad fisheries of the Saint John's River, though 

 of recent origin, are quite extensive, 251,700 pounds, worth $20,136, being taken in 1880. A full 

 statistical account of the fisheries of Eastern Florida is given in the following statements : 



