714 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
IOWA. 
In 1899 the fisheries of lowa gave employment to 2,637 persons, of 
whom 2,511, including 1,476 shoresmen, are credited to the Mississippi 
River, and the remainder to its tributaries. The amount of capital 
invested in boats, fishing apparatus, and shore and accessory property 
was $360,169. The principal forms of apparatus employed in the 
capture of food-fish were seines and fyke nets. Set lines, hand lines, 
pound nets, and trammel nets were fished less extensively. The total 
yield of the fisheries of the State was 23,901,922 pounds, valued at 
$207,801. The most important product consisted of mussel shells 
used in the pearl-button industry, the catch being 20,354,000 pounds, 
having a value, including $3,617 worth of pearls and $1,617 worth of 
baroque pearls, of $97,449. The food-fishes taken in greatest quantity 
were German carp, 1,039,375 pounds, worth $22,518; cat-fish, 750,678 
pounds, worth $37,845; and buffalo-fish, 937,076 pounds, worth 
$26,559. Black bass, crappie, sturgeon, pike perch (wall-eyed), sun- 
fish, paddle-fish, fresh-water drum, and suckers were also plentiful. 
Carp have increased to a much greater extent than any other edible 
species, the catch in 1899 being five times as large as in 1894. The 
entire catch of mussel shells and the greater part of the food-fish were 
obtained from the Mississippi River. 
The extent of the economic fisheries of Iowa is not in proportion to 
the length of the water-courses, principally because of restrictive laws 
imposed on the operations of commercial fishermen, an interdiction 
prevailing against the use of any form of fishing apparatus other than 
hook and line except in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. 
While many of the persons engaged in fishing in lowa depend entirely 
on that industry for a living, a majority of them have other vocations, 
especially during the winter. Many farmers along the banks of the 
Mississippi derive a larger income from their fishing operations than 
from their farms. During the season many of the fishermen inhabit 
temporary quarters erected along the river banks or live in house 
boats that may be moved from place to place. Very few of the men 
engaged in the fisheries are on wages, nearly all of them being inde- 
pendent and controlling their apparatus. 
By far the most valuable fishery prosecuted in the State is the 
gathering of mussel shells used in the manufacture of pearl buttons. 
These shells are taken exclusively in the Mississippi River. In 1894 
only about $2,000 worth of shells were taken, while in 1899 the value 
of the catch had increased to nearly $100,000. In fact the increase in 
value of the fisheries of this State is due entirely to the development of 
thisindustry. Various kinds of apparatus are employed in the mussel 
fishery, but crowfoot lines are more commonly used than any other. 
The mussel shells are all sold to factories engaged in the manufac- 
ture either of pearl-button blanks or the finished buttons. In most 
