BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 221 



men who priucipally eugage iu these fisheries, aud particularly those 

 who had special vessels constructed for this purpose, felt the failure of 

 these fisheries very keenly. Moreover, the high price of bait tended to 

 swallow up the small profits which were realized. In some parts of the 

 country some of the fishermen abandoned these fisheries in order to 

 devote themselves to catching those kinds designated by "other fish," 

 aud given below under the heading "Fisheries for fresh fish." 



Iu spite of the fact that sardines were scarce the prices did not rise 

 much. Several establishments for canning sardines did no work at 

 all. The consequence was that the families of the fishermeu, who com- 

 pose almost exclusively the population of some of our coast villages, 

 were, duriug the winter, reduced to abject want. 



Fisheries fok fresh fish. — These fisheries (comprising turbot, 

 halibut, sole, flounder, ray, gurnet, mullet, eel, salmon, lamprey, sturgeon, 

 tunny, «&c.), which at the beginning of the season were not very pro- 

 ductive, owing to long-continued calm during the summer, gave better 

 results during the winter. The products of these fisheries were some- 

 what less than* during the preceding season, but found a ready and 

 profitable sale. The increase in the prices was caused in part by the 

 large number of tunnies caught by the fishing vessels, aud delivered 

 to the factories at higher prices than those which could be obtained in 

 1883. The fisheries carried on by vessels with seines also contributed 

 their share towards this increase. 



Oyster fisheries. — In 1883 there were sold 157,GG6,216 oysters 

 (French and Portuguese), the yield of the coast and boat fisheries, 

 which realized 2,266,578 francs [$437,449.55 j, while in 1884 there were 

 sold 119,277,795 oysters for 1,744,935 francs [$336,772.45] ; consequeutly 

 there was a decrease from last year of 38,388,451 oysters and 52J,G43 

 francs [$100,677.10]. Duriug 1884 the total number of oysters (French 

 and Portuguese) from pares, tanks, aud ponds, as well as from the 

 coast and boat fisheries, sold during the season amounted to 529,768,767, 

 yielding a sum of 13,577,926 francs [$2,620,539.72] . 



The season of 1884 commenced under favorable auspices; but the 

 epidemic which visited Southern France and Spain caused a very no- 

 ticeable decrease iu most kinds of business. The sale of oysters was 

 consequently not so active as during the preceding years, aud the 

 prices of course fell very considerably. In spite of these drawbacks 

 oyster culture continued to make progress. The harvest of oyster 

 spawn was unusually rich in the Eiv^er Auray, whose beds always con- 

 tain an abundance of oysters. The same was the case at La Teste, 

 Cancale, the Island of Oleron, at Marennes, aud in the principal cen- 

 ters of oyster production, where the raising of oysters is carried on at 

 il constantly increasing rate. 



Paris, France, November 4, 1885. 



