:RA:RT x, 



THE RED SNAPPER FISHERY AND THE HAVANA MARKET FISHERY OF KEY 



WEST, FLORIDA. 



BY SILAS STEARNS. 



1. THE RED-SNAPPER FISHERY. 



1. THE RED-SNAPPER FISHERY OP PENSACOLA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO. 



In the natural-history section of this report the distribution and habits of the red snapper 

 have been so thoroughly described that it is unnecessary to advert to them here. 



This fishery is located almost entirely in the Gulf of Mexico, and in Florida it ranks next in 

 importance to the sponge fishery. The vessels engaged in it are smacks and smaller vessels that 

 preserve their catch in ice, and also the small open boats that fish near the harbor mouth, using no 

 preservative of any kind. Peusacola is the greatest distributing point in the country for red 

 snappers. All vessels belonging in Mobile, New Orleans, and other western ports land their fish 

 here, to be shipped to their home ports. Outside of this, those cities depend largely on Peusacola 

 for their supply of deep-water fish, as do all the inland towns and cities from the Gulf to the Cana- 

 dian boundary. 



THE FISHING GROUNDS AND METHODS OF FISHING. The grounds where the red snapper are 

 taken lie along the coast from off Mobile Bar to the latitude of Tampa Bay, in depths of water 

 ranging from 10 to 40 fathoms. Between Mobile Bar and Cape San Bias they seem to be gullies in 

 level sand-flats, where all sorts of 'animal life have found shelter from the strong currents, provid- 

 ing food for each other. These gullies are of all lengths and widths, some not much larger than 

 a small vessel, while others are several miles long and quite wide. One harmonious feature 

 about them is the way iu which they lie, being parallel to one another, and running in nearly every 

 case southeast and northwest. The farther to sea they extend the more life there is in them and 

 the more coral and lime-rock is present, until a depth of 40 or 50 fathoms is reached. Beyond 50 

 or 60 fathoms the bottom becomes sandy. 



Eastward and southward of Cape San Bias the snapper is found mainly living upon ridges 

 and points of calcareous rock which protrude at more or less frequent intervals from the vast 

 sand deserts of the Gulf bottom. In the shoaler water, rock shows itself in rather even ridges, or 

 perhaps in almost level tracts that rise but little above the surrounding sands; while in the deeper 

 water, as from 19 to 35 fathoms, there are sharp uneven hills and valleys that often make a differ- 

 ence of 3 or 4 fathoms in the depth of water withiu a distance of 200 feet. The latter region is 

 the more thickly populated with fishes, but as on all grounds south of Cape San Bias, the red- 

 snapper yields supremacy of power, in numbers, to the groupers (Ephicphelus). They being here 

 more abundant, more easily taken than the snapper and of not much value and in limited 

 demand in the United States, these southern grounds are not as valuable to the ird-sn;ipprr 

 fishermen as those west of Cape San Bias where the groupers are not so troublesome. Still tin-re 



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