28 FISHERIES OF THE COASTAL WATERS OF FLORIDA. 



$9,250, and the shore property and cash capital at $34,340, making a 

 total investment of $55,245. The quantity of products taken was over 

 2,000,000 pounds, valued at $49,585, the species being represented as 

 follows: Channel bass, 120,955 pounds, $4,201; mullet, 790,507 pounds, 

 $12,473; sheepshead, 87,500 pounds, $2,761; squeteague, 180,049 

 pounds, $6,235; other fish, 183,701 pounds, $5,543; oysters, 93,350 

 bushels, $13,300; turtles and terrapins, 19,350 pounds, $2,150; shrimp, 

 62,025 pounds, $2,397; and. other products having a value of *o~o. 



FISHERIES OF INDIAN RIVER. 



Previous report on this river. — The resources and fisheries of the 

 Indian River have been considered in a special report submitted to the 

 Senate on January 5, 1897, pursuant to a clause of the act making 

 appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for 1896, 

 requiring " the Commissioner of Fisheries to make special investiga- 

 tion as to the extermination of migratory fishes of the Indian River of 

 Florida." This report appears to render unnecessary at this time an 

 extended account of the fisheries of this region. The examination of 

 the river was made in January and February, 1896, by a party from 

 this Commission, and the following information is abstracted from the 

 report based on that inquiry. 



Development of the fisheries. — The fisheries of this region have attained 

 considerable prominence withiu a comparatively few years, and in 1895 

 contributed several million pounds of food-fish to the public markets. 

 The business of taking green turtles antedates the civil war, but the 

 fisheries proper did not begin until 1878, when a Connecticut vessel 

 visited one of the inlets and caught fish for the Savannah market. It 

 was not until 1880, however, after the river had been brought into 

 railroad communication with Jacksonville, that the fisheries became 

 regularly established. Prior to that time the river was almost inac- 

 cessible except by water: the surrounding country was very sparsely 

 settled, and the very valuable fishery resources remained latent. 



In 1885 an oyster business was started at Titusville at the head of 

 the river, and in the following year a fishery was inaugurated at that 

 place. The building of a second railroad to Titusville and its extension 

 along the entire length of the river in 1893-1895, resulted in the estab- 

 lishment of new fishing stations farther and farther south, and led to a 

 great increase in the industry. In 1895 tli ere were 19 firms engaged in 

 the lisheries of the river. These were located at Titusville, Cocoa, Fan 

 Gallic, Melbourne, Sebastian, Fort Pierce, Eden, Jansen, and Stuart. 

 The places at which the most extensive fishing centered are Fort Pierce, 

 Titusville, Cocoa, and Eden. 



As to the further increase of the fisheries of this body of water, the 

 report cited states: 



While the l'esources are great, the area of fishing-ground is comparatively limited, 

 and the fishing firms realize that the present tendency to over-fishing will result in 

 the ultimate destruction of their business, unless counteracted by the enforcement 

 of certain restrictive laws or adequate artificial propagation. 



