2 U. S. BUKEAU OF FISHERIES, 



various fishery products credited to Monroe County in 1918 totaled 

 3,752,355 pounds, which represented a first vakie to the fishermen of 

 $290,170. 



Most of the wholesale trade in fish is carried on from November 

 to April, when perhaps 90 per cent of the annual catch of fish is 

 taken. Several dealers operate during the entire year, but others 

 are actively engaged in Key West only during the winter. Dealers 

 in sponges and turtles operate throughout the year. All the whole- 

 saling is done with dealers outside the city. 



It was not until 1920 that an ice-making and cold-storage plant 

 was built to take care of excess catches of fish. Previous to that 

 time, notably early in 1919, the fishing industry suffered severe losses 

 when the one small ice-making plant in the city became disabled. 



The retail fish trade is taken care of at the wharves, where the 

 fishermen keep their catches alive in boat wells or in live cars, selling 

 direct to the consumer. There are no local retail stores that sell 

 fish, but small quantities are peddled in pushcarts throughout the 

 city. A person desiring to buy fish goes to the wharves, looks over 

 the stock in the various live cars, and selects the fish he wants. The 

 fisherman then removes the fish selected from the live car with a 

 dip net and cleans and strings them without severing their heads. 

 This method of keeping fish is especially desirable in such a warm 

 climate, as it eliminates icing and insures fresh fish at all times. 

 The variety of fish sold in Key West is probably greater than in any 

 other locality in the United States. A string of fish as sold at the 

 fish wharves usually consists of from 2 to 4 species, but if one so 

 desired one would have no difficulty in buying a string containing 

 20 fish of different kinds. 



The fishing fleet is composed mainly of small boats, some of which 

 are equipped with sails only, some with gasoline engines, and some 

 with a combination of the two. These l)oats seldom travel far from 

 land and are used chiefly in fishing on near-by reefs, which are 

 numerous about Key West. Very few boats of the larger and better 

 type are owned locally, but a number of such vessels come from the 

 east and west coasts of Florida to fish at Key West during the 

 winter. 



The most important products of the Key West fisheries are reef 

 fishes, Spanish mackerel, kiugfish, mullet, sponges, turtles, spiny 

 lobsters {Panvlirus arf/i/s), and stone crabs [Menippi mercenaria) . 

 The catch of conchs, although small, is peculiar to the Atlantic coast 

 of the United States, and while the hard clam, or quahaug (Venns 

 mercenaria mortoni), does not occur at Key West, the clam industry 

 of southwest Florida is of great importance. Each of these fur- 

 nishes an individual fishery that will be described in the following 

 pages. 



SMALLER REEF FISHES. 



The small fishes inhabiting the reefs among the Florida keys are 

 caught at all seasons of the year. They comprise, for the most part, 

 grunts, snappers, yellow-tail, porkfish, porgies, turbot, jacks, and 

 small groupers. 



The boats used in this fishery are from 20 to 40 feet in length, 

 with cockpit aft, fish well in the center, and with space for sleeping 

 quarters, if so utilized, forward below deck. Generally but one 



