AMERICAN CATFISHES. 



23 



Statistics of the Catfish Fishery in the Middle Atlantic States for 



Certain Years. , 



Interior waters. — The catfish fisheries in the lesser interior waters 

 seem not to have been thoroughly canvassed prior to 1895. The 

 data gathered in 1895 and 1896 covers 19 states for the year 1894. 

 The states are Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas 

 Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, 

 New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, 

 and Wisconsin. The total quantity marketed was 14,726,812 pounds, 

 valued at $532,972 to the fishermen, or an average of nearly 3§ cents 

 (3.63) a pound. 



The next comprehensive canvass was for the year 1899, when New 

 York and Vermont were omitted. The total quantity that year is 

 given as 7,648,179 pounds, with a value of $339,800, about 4| cents 

 (4.42) b}'" the pound. 



For the purpose of comparison New York and Vermont are liere 

 omitted from the 1894 data and the figures for the remaining 17 

 states give 14,576,545 pounds as the whole quantity marketed and 

 $526,194 as the total value, which indicates an average price by the 

 pound of 3 1 cents. There is thus shown in five years in those 17 

 states a falling off in amount of 6,928,366 pounds marketed, and 

 $186,394 in value, but a gain of less than a cent (0.7) in the pound 

 price. For only 11 of these states are sufficient recent data available 

 to furnish a basis of comparison with the conditions in 1908. They 

 are Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentuck}^, Louisi- 

 ana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, and Wisconsin. The catches 

 of these states in 1899 aggregate 6,316,403 pounds, valued at $280,- 

 455, or nearly 4^ cents (4.45) a pound. The yield of the same states 

 in 1908, according to the preliminary reports of the census office, 

 was 10,775,400 pounds, representing a value of $459,830, or about 

 4^ cents (4.26) a pound. These figures show that in nine years there 

 was an increase of 4,458,997 pounds of marketed catfish, with a gain 

 of $179,375 to the fishermen, but a decrease in the price by the 

 pound of nearly ^ of a cent (0.19). 



Summary. — The latest figures of the Bureau of Fisheries, of dates 

 varying from 1902 to 1905 for the different sections of the country, 

 give a total catch of catfish, including bullheads, as 12,718,003 



