BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 467 



119.— FLUCTUATIONS IIV THE FISHERIES OE THE CSUIiF ©F MEXICO 



AND THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION OF THEM. 



By SILAS STEARNS. 

 [From a letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.] 



As to the best time of year for the Albatross to visit the Gulf, I 

 would say that I think that much more could be accomplished in sum- 

 mer than in winter. For in winter the cold "northers" drive the most 

 of the animal life from the shores and shoaler waters to deep waters, or 

 in the case of surface swimmers, large and small, to the lower parts of 

 the Gulf, perhaps even beyond Cuba. This movement takes place more 

 or less with all of our food -fishes. The summer time is the general 

 spawning season. West Indian forms are present, and all kinds of 

 delicate invertebrates are more easily secured. I would say that from 

 June until the mullet-spawning season, in September, your expedition 

 would do better than at any other time. Most persons do not find the 

 climate on the Gulf at all unpleasant in summer, and then the moderate 

 winds and calm sea are most favorable for collecting. I am pleased to 

 know that you are contemplating this exploration, and trust that the 

 plan may be carried out, for it seems time that we were better ac- 

 quainted with our food-fishes, which appear to be more easily used up 

 or driven away than they are in more northern latitudes. 



I am aware that fishermen are apt to fancy that fish are becoming 

 scarce whenever they have been unusually unsuccessful for a season, 

 remembering only the good catches of the past, but it is quite evident 

 that their complaints are well founded in this case. For the past five 

 years the daily catch of the shore seine-boats from the Mississippi 

 Eiver to a point 50 miles east of Pensacola has been gradually reduced, 

 so that now it is very small. To get even half a supply there are many 

 more boats and vessels, much larger than of old, that carry ice and scour 

 the coasts westward and southward, going in the latter direction 300 to 

 400 miles. It seems strange to me that the fishery of a few years past, 

 which was not large, should almost entirely use up an abundance of 

 fish. The scarcity is with the following species, which are inhabitants 

 of the bays all the year: Skeepshead, salt-water trout, redfish, mullet, 

 gray .snapper, and other small species. These fishes are yet abundant 

 in Southern Florida, as they used to be here. The pompano, bluefish, 

 Spanish mackerel, &c, all migratory, are, apparently, as abundant as 

 ever some years and scarce others. I think also that there has been a 

 decrease with the red snapper, for the most of the old fishing grounds 

 are barren, and smacks have to go farther each year to find new ones. 

 During the past winter we have fished along the edge of the 100-fathom 

 curve in 30 to 40 fathom water from south from Pensacola to west 

 from Cedar Keys, which takes us from 50 to 200 miles from home. 



