170 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



culture, are thought to be sufficient reasous for debarring it from 

 present cousideration. 



South of Lake Worth, the physical aud other conditions are not favor- 

 able for the purpose in question until Biscayne Bay is reached, while 

 the region south of that bay is too remote from present and i^rospective 

 lines of communication to entitle it to notice. It was, therefore, the 

 Biscayne Bay region that the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries con- 

 ceived to be the most inviting section of the east coast of Florida for 

 the special object named, and it was there that the writer was instructed 

 to make a preliminary investigation covering the physical conditions, 

 natural resources, eligible sites for a station, commercial fisheries, and 

 prospects for the future development of the fishing industry. 



The inquiries of the Commission were greatly facilitated by Mr. J. E. 

 Ingraham, general agent of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian 

 Eiver Eailroad, and by Hon. Frederick S. Morse, of Miami, to whom 

 acknowledgments are due. 



GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF THE BISCAYNE BAY REGION. 



Key Biscayne Bay, or Biscayne Bay as it is more commonly desig- 

 nated, is one of the finest bodies of water on the coast of Florida. It 

 is the most northern member of a series of shallow bays or sounds inter- 

 vening between the Florida keys and the mainland. It occupies 

 almost the extreme southern part of the east side of Florida and extends 

 from 25° 57' to 25° 22' north latitude, its length being about 35 

 miles. Its northern third is comparatively narrow, having an average 

 width of only 2 miles. The remaining part has a maximum width of 

 about 8i miles and an average width of 7 miles. Its area is 210 miles. 

 On the south, at Arseniker Keys, it merges into Cards Sound. In the 

 upper 10 miles of its length it is separated from the Strait of Florida 

 by a very narrow strip of mainland ending at Norris or Narrow Cut, 

 which is the most northern opening into the bay. South of this inlet 

 the following keys form the eastern boundary of the bay: Virginia 

 Key, Key Biscayne, Soldier Key, Eagged Keys, Sands Key, Elliott 

 Key, and Old Ehodes Key. The largest and widest of these is Key 

 Biscayne, at whose southern end is Cajie Florida, which marks the 

 principal passageway into the bay. 



The shores of the bay are for the most part low and densely over- 

 grown with mangrove trees; in places, however, on he mainland, the 

 shores are comparatively high, consisting of an abrupt bank of coral 

 limestone overgrown with deciduous trees, constituting a topograph- 

 ical feature said to exist nowhere else in Florida. 



The bay is shoal throughout. In that part north of the Miami Eiver 

 a greater depth than 7 feet is not found, and the average is not more 

 than 4 feet. In the southern part the depth varies from 7 to 13 feet in 

 the center of the bay and gradually decreases toward the shores. The 



