FISHERIES OF THE COASTAL WATERS OF FLORIDA. 53 



to small indentations and creeks, and at low water prevents the fish 

 from escaping. The regular haul seines for mullet are about 750 feet 

 long and have a 3-inch mesh. The mesh of the gill nets is 3f inches. 



Mullet fishing is done more or less throughout the year, but is most 

 extensive during fall and early winter, when the fish have matured roe, 

 are in the best condition, and are most abundant. 



An immense quantity of the mullet secured at the fishing stations is 

 salted and either sold in the surrounding territory or shipped to Tampa, 

 St. Petersburg, or Punta Gorda, to be distributed by rail. Prior to 

 1890 large quantities of salt mullet were sent in sailing vessels and 

 steamers to Havana, but this trade has been practically abandoned 

 owiug to the excessively high tariff imposed on imported fish as a 

 consequence of the Cuban war. The salt-fish trade with Cuba has 

 heretofore been virtually controlled by Americans, but it has now fallen 

 into the hands of the Cubans, who visit the Florida coast in their ves- 

 sels and fish along the shores of the State. Although fishing in State 

 waters by foreign vessels is prohibited, the sparse population and the 

 general absence of revenue cutters make it easy for the Spanish sub- 

 jects to ply their business uninterruptedly: they often come into the 

 bays to fish, and sometimes even prepare their fish on the shore. This 

 condition of affairs has greatly injured the local salt mullet fishery. 



There is considerable waste in the mullet fishery, owing to the soft- 

 ening of the fish during, transportation from the fishing-camps to the 

 markets. If the vessels carrying the fish are delayed by head winds 

 or calms, the whole cargo may be lost, as some of the stations are nearly 

 200 miles from Tampa. Insufficient ice is also a factor in the spoiling of 

 fish. Careful inquiry among the Tampa dealers shows that during the 

 principal mullet season, from September to December, inclusive, over 

 200,000 pounds of mullet are thrown away annually at that place, and 

 it is estimated that the annual loss at other places on the west coast is 

 over 300,000 pounds. These spoiled fish do not enter into the statement 

 of the catch. Some of the loss is retrieved, however, by laying aside 

 the ripe females and extracting their roe. which is salted. 



The general gill-net and seine fishing. — Besides the gill nets used 

 especially for mullet, there are pompano and Spanish mackerel nets, 

 which are operated in conjunction with the mullet fishery. The pom- 

 pano nets have a mesh of 4 to 5 inches, the mackerel nets a mesh of 3 

 or 3;^ inches, their length being from 450 to 850 feet. Besides the fish 

 for which the nets are particularly set. numerous others are taken which, 

 in the aggregate, are more important than the two species named ; 

 among these are bluefish, redfish, black drum, sheepshead, grunts, and 

 trout. In 1895 the number of pompano nets in use was 80, with a value 

 of $2,680; the Spanish mackerel nets numbered 70 and were worth 

 $2,025. The fishery was most extensive at Punta Gorda and at the 

 camps in Manatee County. The catch, a detailed statement of which 

 follows, including those fish taken incidentally in the mullet fishery, 

 amounted to 1,627,015 pounds, for which the fishermen received $45,573. 



