FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1936 263 
Florida and Alabama, for 1887; the shad fishery of the South Atlantic 
States for 1910; the shad and alewife fisheries of the South Atlantic 
States for 1896; the sturgeon fishery of Florida for 1900; the menhaden 
industry of the South Atlantic States for 1912; the shrimp fishery for 
1916; the oyster fishery of the South Atlantic States for 1910; and the 
oyster fishery of the Gulf States for 1911. 
In the Pacific Coast States statistics on the catch of the marine 
fisheries and those conducted in the coastal rivers and bays of these 
States were collected for the years 1880, 1888, 1892, 1895, 1899, 1904, 
1908, 1915, and for all the years from 1922 to 1935, inclusive. These 
surveys have usually included data on operating units and wholesale 
and manufacturing trade. In addition to the above, statistics were 
obtained on the fisheries of California from 1918 to 1921, inclusive, and 
for the oyster fishery in 1912. 
Statistics on the catch of the fisheries of the Great Lakes were 
collected for the years 1880, 1885, 1890, 1893, 1899, 1903, 1908, and for 
all the years from 1913 to 1934, inclusive. Statistics of the operating 
units and of the wholesale and manufacturing trade were collected for 
most of the years when canvasses were made from 1880 to 1908 and in 
1917 and 1922 as well as in most of the years from 1926 to 1934, inclu- 
sive. In addition to the above a survey was made of the fisheries of 
Lake Ontario and of certain fisheries in other lakes for the year 1897. 
Statistics of the catch of the fisheries of the Mississippi River and 
its tributaries were collected for the years 1894, 1899, 1903, 1908, 1922, 
and 1931. In addition, figures have been obtained of the fisheries of 
Lakes Pepin and Keokuk for the vears 1914 and 1917 and the years 
from 1927 to 1935, inclusive, and of the fisheries of the Mississippi 
River between Lakes Pepin and Keokuk for the years 1929 to 1935, 
inclusive. 
Statistics also were collected on the fisheries of certain interior 
waters, other than the fisheries of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi 
River and its tributaries, for the years 1894, 1895, 1900, and 1902. 
Statistical agents.—The statistics contained in this volume have been 
collected by a corps of trained statistical and marketing agents which 
comprises a part of the permanent staff of the Division of Fishery 
Industries of the Bureau. Most of these men have been with the 
Bureau for a period of 5 years or more. In the main they are college 
eraduates and were recruited through civil-service examination. 
While in college, most of the men pursued biological or technical 
courses largely in fishery work which has especially suited them for 
coping with the many biological and technical aspects encountered in 
canvassing the fisheries. This training has been especially helpful 
in identification of the species which, because of the many local names 
applied to a particular species, causes considerable confusion. 
Period covered.—In conducting the fishery statistical surveys, agents 
are dispatched to the districts to be surveyed as early in the calendar 
year as they can be spared from the tabulation and preparation for 
publication of their previous season’s work. They collect statistics 
of fishery operations for the year preceding that in which they are 
working; and, since their field work occupies the greater part of the 
year, it is usually at least a year from the end of the calendar year for 
which they are collecting data until the figures are published. Most of 
the figures are collected for the calendar year. Where there are varia- 
tions from this general practice, explanatory notes appear in the tables. 

