FISHERIES OF KEY WEST. 43 



at the markets they are washed, weighed, and iminediatel}^ packed 

 for shipment. During the height of the season as many as 100,000 

 pounds of fish must be disposed of within one day in one fish house, 

 and considering the relatively few men who execute this work it 

 can only be accomplished by the speed, dexterity, and cooperation of 

 the entire force. 



At times as many as 10 small boats are lined up at one of the fish 

 wharves waiting to dispose of their cargo. In unloading the fish 

 a 2-bushel basket is lowered into the boat, filled, hoisted to the dock, 

 and dumped into a wire-meshed, semicylindrical basket that rests in 

 a tub of water. In this basket they receive a superficial washing by 

 being raised and lowered several times in the tub of water. The 

 fish are then dumped on a large table, from w^hich they are thrown on 

 a scale and weighed in 100-pound lots. A barrel with broken ice on 

 the bottom of it is always in readiness near the scale, and the fish are 

 packed so as to form alternate layers with the ice, which is added 

 as necessary. When 200 pounds of fish have been placed in a barrel 

 it is rolled away, the remaining space being filled with ice well 

 tamped. A wooden cover is nailed on, the barrel is properly con- 

 signed, and is then ready for shipment. 



Most of the mackerel are shipped to points east of the Mississippi 

 River, New York being the principal market. As a rule a glut 

 seldom occurs on the market, but when heavy catches are received at 

 Key West and other points in Florida simultaneously the price tends 

 to drop until the heavy run is over. The fishermen receive a uniform 

 price throughout the season, which in 1919-20 was 6 cents per pound 

 to fishermen owning their own equipment and 3i cents to those w^ho 

 were furnished equipment by the dealers. When the gill-net fisher- 

 men deliver their catch to the run boat that visits the fishing grounds, 

 a slight reduction — usually one-half cent a pound — in the price paid 

 is made. To the fish dealers the mackerel bring the highest prices 

 in November and March, when catches usually are small. For a 

 number of seasons past a representative from Fulton Market, New 

 York, has been stationed in the largest fish house in Key West, 

 where he supervises the packing and shipping of all fish consigned 

 to his market. He purchases probably one-half of the Key West 

 catch of mackerel. The quantity of mackerel sold to the local trade 

 in Key West is negligible. 



Florida has the only special fishery for Spanish mackerel, al- 

 though in North Carolina about 100,000 pounds were caught with 

 gill nets during 1918. From New Jersey to North Carolina it is 

 caught in pound nets along with other species of fish. In Chesa- 

 peake Bay the first fish are caught in pound nets during the last 

 week in May or the first week in June. The fish leave the bay the 

 latter part of September or early in October. 



SPINY-LOBSTER FISHERY. 



The Florida spiny lobster {PamiUrus argm) differs considerably 

 from the northern lobster {Homarus americanus) , the chief differ- 

 ences visible at a glance being the very long legs, the long whiplike 

 antenna? studded with spines, the spines of the cephalathorax, or 

 body, two of which protrude over the eyes like a pair of horns, and 

 the absence of the great claws. Its flesh has a delicate flavor, and it 



