Fishing for Food 



It takes a lot of gear to catch 5 billion pounds of fish, 

 the annual United States harvest. Some 14 million hooks 

 and 1 million lobster, crab, and crawfish pots bring in about 

 11 percent of the catch; 2,400 purse seines, which encircle 

 schools of nnany species, take nearly 50 percent of the catch; 

 9,000 bottonn trawls (sacklike nets dragged along the bottom), 

 take 20 percent; 28,000 gill nets, 4 percent; 3,300 pound nets 

 including fish traps, 4 percent; shellfish dredges, 2 percent; 

 the balance of the catch is by miscellaneous gear. 



More than 80,000 water craft are used in commercial 

 fishing, including 48,000 motor boats and 11,000 vessels 

 varying in length from 40 to 200 feet. There are 150,000 

 men on the boats and another 350,000 engaged directly or 

 indirectly in the fisheries and related industries. 



Prepared in tVfice of Information, Fish and Wildlife Service, 

 United States Department of the Interior, Washington 25, D. C. 

 Circular 55. Revised October 1960. » 



Lobster oot 



Otter trawl 



GPO 901333 



UNITED STATES 

 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 



FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 

 WASHINGTON 25, D. C. 



POSTAGE AND FEES PAID 

 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 



OFFICIAL BUSINESS 



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