REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



69 



OwiDg to the great depth from which the fish came, it was found 

 impossible to keep them alive in the shallow wells pending the arrival 

 of the steamer. Consequently, as soon as caught, they were packed 

 in ice whole and sent to Galveston in that condition. At Galveston 

 they were sold whole or dressed, as the customers desired. From that 

 place shipments were made in ice to Chicago, New York, and Denver. 

 The fish, delivered on board the cars or boats, brought 4 to 7 cents a 

 pound, varying with the condition in which sold. 



Fish were very abundant at all times, and easily caught with the 

 proper bait. As many as 20,000 pounds were taken in one day by the 

 three smacks. Between January 21 and May 6 ten tri]3s were made to 

 Galveston by the steamer, and 367,808 pounds of fish were landed from 

 the fishing-grounds, of which 321,050 pounds were red snappers, 41,412 

 pounds groupers, and 5,340 pounds other fish. The largest fare was 

 brought in April 1, consisting of 51,452 pounds, of which 46,418 pounds 

 were red snappers. 



The dates and detailed figures for each trip are given in the follow- 

 ing table: 



Taile showing the quantities of fish caught on Campeclie Bank, Gulf of Mexico, and landed 



at Galveston, Tex., in 1S93. 



Date of trip. 



January 21. 

 February 4. 

 February 18 



March 4 



March 18... 

 March 25... 



April 1 



April 8 



April 22 



May 6 



Total. 



« Includes 415 pounds of "rock perch." 



As the season wore on the weather became so warm that it was 

 imi^ossible to keep ice for the preservation of the fish, and the fishery 

 was discontinued. The following comments on the success of this 

 venture and additional notes on the fishery have been supplied by Mr. 

 F. A. Walthew, the president of the company: ' 



No doubt our plan for bringing tliese fish to this market iu large quantities would 

 be interesting, and I take pleasure in giving a short hi.storj' of the venture, which 

 has, unfortunately, not proven a success financially. 



We adopted, as we thought, one of the best plans for bringing large quantities of 

 fish here. We stationed at the Cay of Alacran three fishing smacks manned by 12 

 men each. These smacks were supplied with sufficient ice to store the fish caught 

 during the steamer's run from that point to Galveston and return. We thought in 

 this way that we could every week bring to this port not less than 40,000 pounds of 

 fish. Doubtless we would have been successful in this had not circumstances been 

 against us and misfortunes overtaken us. The intense heat in that latitude and the 

 delay of the steamer in arriving there caused us to lose thousands of pounds of fish, 

 and necessarily detained the steamer until a sufficient quantity could be caught to 

 complete the cargo. 



