REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 107 



the St. Frauds, aud Ouachita, in all of which commercial fishing is 

 carried on. In a number of lakes representing former beds of rivers 

 considerable fishing is also done. 



In 1894, 750 persons \rere engaged in the fisheries of Arkansas. Of 

 these, 560 used set lines, 286 fyke nets, 129 seines, and 114 trammel 

 nets, some fishermen being in two or more fisheries. The number on 

 the different rivers was as follows: 302 on the Arkansas, 81 on the 

 White, 73 on the St. Francis, 158 on the Ouachita, 01 on the Mississippi, 

 and 75 on various minor waters. 



The fyke net is the most prominent means of capture in this State 

 representing nearly one thinl the investment in the fishing industry. 

 It is used in almost every river and lake having commercial fisheries 

 the largest numbers being set in the Mississippi, White, and St. Francis 

 rivers. The total number of fykes in use m 1894 was 1,590, valued at 

 $11,040. Set lines are also very generally employed. Their number 

 was 1,015, valued at $1,914. The lines contained over 79,000 hooks and 

 were 328,000 feet in lengtb. The number and value of the other 

 importaiit forms of apparatus were as follows: Seines, 41, $5,470; tram- 

 mel nets, 72, $2,070. An interesting feature of the fisheries of the 

 State is the use of 8 pound nets in Crittenden County, on the Missis- 

 sil)pi Eiver, this type of net being very seldom met with in the interior 

 waters. The 501 boats employed had a value of $7,917. The aggregate 

 amount of capital invested in the industry was $30,504. 



The yield of the fisheries of Arkansas was 3,875,800 pounds, having 

 a value to the fishermen of $116,010. In point of quantity the buffalo- 

 fishes are the most important in the State; about 1,020,000 pounds, 

 valued at $30,800, were taken. The value of the catfishes was greater, 

 being $38,000, but the quantity was only 904,500 pounds. Xext in 

 importance is the fresh- water drum, or sheepshead; of this, nearly 

 580,000 pounds, worth $15,000, were obtained. Other comparatively 

 prominent species are crappy, black bass, and paddle-fish. Tlie output 

 of the Mississippi Eiver fisheries was larger than that of any other 

 stream, although the value of the catch was less than in several other 

 waters. The yield and value of the catch in the principal waters were 

 as follows: Mississippi Eiver, 882,500 pounds, $18,800; St. Francis 

 Eiver, 772,000 pounds, $19,700; White Eiver, 005,600 pounds, $23,580; 

 Arkansas Eiver, 594,000 pounds, $22,800; Ilorseshoe Lake, 376,000 

 pounds, $10,300; Ouachita Eiver, 248,000 poumls, $10,000. 



TENNEKSEE. 



This State has com])arati\'ely important fisheries in the Tennessee, 

 Cumberland, and 3Iississippi rivers, and in Eeelfoot Lake. The most 

 extensive interests are in the first-named stream and the lake. The 

 principal features are the extent of the fyke-net and set-line fisheries 

 and the preponderance of buffalo-fish and catfish in the catch. 



The number of persons engaged in the commercial fisheries of Ten- 

 nessee in 1894 was 520. Of these, 45 were on the Cumberland Eiver, 



