GULF OF MEXICO: WESTERN FLORIDA. 



537 



Detailed statement of the quantities and values of the products. 



a Including 13,325 dozen roes, worth $J,f67. 



100. THE FISHERIES OF KEY WEST. 



ADVANTAGES OF KEY WEST FOE A FISHING STATION. That Key West should be an 

 important fishing community is quite natural from its geographical position. It is a coral-limestone 

 island, situated far from the mainland, almost entirely surrounded by reefs of coral which afford 

 shelter for myriads of fishes aud their food, and its proximity to the water of the Gulf Stream causes 

 a congenial temperature for most of the southern forms of marine life. Key West is equally 

 convenient to the fishing grounds in winter, when fish are likely to be away from the coast aud 

 near the edge of the Gulf Stream, and in summer when the fish are near the shore. The larger 

 fish, living at or near the bottom, can always find harbor and food among the reefs; and the 

 smaller ones are equally well situated in the still shoal water between this key and those to the 

 immediate east. The fishing grounds for smacks in search of large fish, such as the grouper and 

 red snapper, are chiefly north of Key West and the Florida reef, along the mainland shores, and 

 about the western end of the reef, in the vicinity of the Tortugas. The vessels engaged in the 

 sponge fishery find grounds among the reefs eastward from Key West to Cape Florida aud off the 

 Florida coast from Anclote Keys north to Saint Mark's, and the fishing grounds for the smaller 

 fish lie near aud around Key West. Key West derives great advantages from being convenient 

 to the large markets of Havana and New York. The former is only a fourteen hours' sail and the 

 latter is directly aud frequently communicated with by steamships. 



DESCRIPTION OF FISHING VESSELS. The Key West market fishery is carried on by a fleet of 

 vessels and boats which fish on the coral reefs at the edge of the Gulf Stream, usually at a distance 

 of 5, sometimes 10 miles from Key West. 



With the exception of two vessels sloop-rigged, all the larger smacks engaged in the fishery 

 from the port of Key West, are schooner-rigged. These smacks may be divided into two classes: 

 those built in Connecticut, and those built at Key West in imitation of New England fishing 

 vessels. The Key- West-built vessels are considered much more durable than those which come from 

 New England, which, however, they resemble in general appearance. The various kinds of wood 

 obtained in the South are regarded as being much better adapted for use in the construction of 

 vessels for Southern waters being less liable to decay than those from which the New England 

 vessels are made. The arrangement of the wells in these smacks is the same as that followed in 

 the boats engaged in the New York market fisheries. A Key- West built vessel of 40 tons costs 

 about $10,000. 



LAY. With the exception of two vessels, the crews of the smacks fish on shares. The owner 

 of the vessel receives 40 per cent, of the gross proceeds of the catch, and out of that he pays 40 per 



