DISTRIBUTION AND DESCRIPTION OF FISHERIES 35 



balance of the state's fisheries. Unfished stocks of shrimp and crab possess 

 potentialities for development, but herring possibilities appear limited 

 and are also hindered by cost factors. 



Halibut landings in Alaska (Table 3.3) do not reflect the size of the 

 contiguous stocks as the fleet is largely noncaptive to any port and land 

 not only in Alaska but in British Columbia and Washington as well. 

 Also, Canadian vessels fish off Alaska. 



Great Lakes, including the International Lakes of Minnesota. New York, 

 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 

 as well as Ontario and Manitoba in Canada participate in the fisheries 

 of the Great Lakes (Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior). The 

 small international lakes of Minnesota provide a small yield. 



Increased production costs, changing relative value between species, 

 gear modifications and restrictions, natural and fishery-induced fluctua- 

 tions, introduction of exotic species and of predators characterize the 

 region's fisheries. The valuable lake trout and whitefish have declined to 

 negligible quantities primarily due to an influx of parasitic sea lampreys 

 and have been largely replaced in the catch by less valuable chubs, 

 yellow perch, smelt, and lake herring. 



Mississippi River and Watershed. Twenty river states produced 78 

 million pounds in 1959 with Wisconsin, Alabama, and Illinois accounting 

 for one-half. The fish in this region are taken both from the rivers and 

 from many small lakes in the watershed area. The region produces most 

 of the country's catfish and all of the domestic shell for ''pearl" buttons 

 whose production shows a long-term decline. Some shell is exported for 

 use in pearl culture in Japan. Catfish, buffalofish, carp, and sheepshead 

 comprise about 77 per cent of the 1959 catch and mussel sheUs about 

 16 per cent. 



The Fisheries by States. Though most fisheries extend beyond the 

 borders of single states, jurisdiction is exclusively by state. Federal 

 authority intervenes only where there are international commitments or 

 where federal pure food, interstate commerce, or power laws may apply. 



In Table 3.5 the 1959 volume and value ranking by states are shown. 

 All federal fishery statistics exclude sport or subsistence catches which 

 are often substantial. In world statistics (FAO 1959), there is inconsistent 

 inclusion of such catches. 



Production by Habitat Groups. The percentages of the total United 

 States annual production contributed by major biological or habitat 

 groups during the past 50 years and for the world catch in 1959 are 

 shown in Table 3.6. 



The foregoing reflects the rising production of shrimp and the decline 

 of oyster yields. The stabihty of freshwater fish yields lowers their repre- 



