STATISTICS OF THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



415 



The table shows the quantity and value of shad taken in each of the coast sections 

 in 1880 and 1892 : 



Comparative table showing the results of the shad fishery of 1SS0 and 1892. 



The changes that have taken place in the oyster production since 1880 have been 

 among the most noticeable features of the fisheries during that period. The question 

 of the preservation and increase of the supply has been widely discussed. The 

 threatened exhaustion of the natural beds in the most prolific sections has drawn 

 special attention to the value of and necessity for artificial methods in maintaining 

 the crop. The increased output shown by the table, while in some States due to a 

 development of the natural resources, has in others been mainly attributable to the 

 application of planting methods made possible by the enactment of protective and 

 stimulative laws. 



In the New England States the increased yield has been over 300 per cent, with 

 a reduction in the average price to the consumer. In the principal oyster-producing 

 region, the Middle Atlantic States, the increase is less than 5 per cent, with an 

 advance in the average price per bushel. The South Atlantic section presents an 

 augmentation in the yield of about 350 per cent, with a large diminution in the average 

 price, as is also the case in the Gulf States, where the catch has increased over 500 

 per cent. The most remarkable change has occurred in the Pacific States, where in 

 1880 only 15,000 bushels of oysters, mostly native, were taken, while the annual 

 output at the present time is between 300,000 and 400,000 bushels, in large part east- 

 ern oysters introduced as seed; the average price per bushel in 1880 was 66 cents, 

 while now it is over $2.50, the demand for the more desirable oysters brought from 

 the Atlantic coast being very great. 



Considering the entire country, an increase has occurred since 1880 amounting to 

 6,067,000 bushels, having a value of $4,122,755, the average price increasing from 55 

 cents to 57 cents a bushel. 



Comparison of the output of the oyster fishery in 1880 and 1892. 



