MARINE FISHERIES OF TEXAS 



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fluctuated but little; but beginning in 1908 an enormous increase is 

 shown, which reached a maximum of more than 25,000,000 pounds 

 in the war year of 1918, followed by a drop of about 5,000,000 pounds 

 in 1923. This increase of 150 per cent since 1908 was due almost en- 

 tirely to the development of the menhaden industry. In 1918 over 

 14,000,000 pounds, or 56 per cent, of the total catch of fish consisted 

 of menhaden. The actual rise in yield of all marine food products 

 in the 33 years since 1890 has been only about 39 per cent. 



Table 1 shows the yield, in round thousands of pounds, in the years 

 in which Government surveys were made. The first column gives 

 the total yield of all marine products and shows the remarkable rise 

 in quantity. The second column gives the total yield of all marine 

 food products except menhaden. Menhaden are used in the manu- 

 facture of oil and fish scrap and therefore were subtracted from the 

 grand total. Thus the high figures of 1918 and 1923 are reduced to 

 a less impressive level. The third column shows the quantities of 

 food fish produced, excluding menhaden, shrimp, and oysters. The 

 oyster catch has been almost constant, between 2,500,000 and 

 3,500,000 pounds annually; but the shrimp catch jumped from a level 

 that had remained at from 200,000 to 300,000 pounds annually until 

 1918, to the surprising quantity of 3,500,000 pounds in 1923. The 

 fourth column is the most significant of all for our purpose of judging 

 the condition of the fishery. It represents the yield of the shore fishery 

 only, for menhaden, shrimp, oysters, and red snapper (which are 

 caught far offshore in the Gulf) are excluded. These figures show 

 the almost horizontal trend of the yield except for the high war-time 

 figure in 1918. The shore fisheries, excluding those for oysters and 

 shrimp, apparently have neither increased nor decreased materially 

 in yield during the 33-year period since 1890. All of these data are 

 presented graphically in Figure 1. 



Table 1. — Yield of the Texas fisheries 

 [Data from the Bureau of Fisheries and from the Bureau of the Census] 



1 Not including menhaden. 



2 All food products except shrimp and oysters. 



3 All food fish except red snapper. N 



However, this fact alone hardly can be used as an argument to 

 show that the shore fisheries have been depleted, for there is little 

 evidence of the vigor with which or extent to which these fisheries 

 have been prosecuted. Table 2, which shows the number of persons 

 engaged in the fisheries, the number of vessels, and the investment, 

 serves this purpose imperfectly. Actually, the exploitation of the 



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