REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. CLXXXIII 



no privileges to the Canadian fisliermen, but gave to American vessels 

 the riglit to purchase bait without the payment of any fee, the only 

 restrictions being the limitation of the amount of bait taken and of the 

 frequency of the visits to Newfoundland ports. 



SNAPPER FISHING ON CAMPECHE BANK, GULF OF MEXICO. 



In the latter part of the fiscal year 1891 the Eed Snapper Fishing 

 Company, of Galveston, Tex., entered into communication with this 

 office, with a view to have the Fish Commission secure from the 

 Mexican Government, through the Department of State, the privilege 

 of using as a fishing rendezvous a portion of oue of the sandy islands on 

 Campeche Bank, lying off the coast of Yucatan, in the Gulf of Mexico, 

 about 600 miles from Galveston. The office brought the matter to the 

 attention of the Department of State, and in August, 1891, the request 

 was granted subject to certain simple conditions. This initial step to 

 develop the more remote offshore fishing-grounds in the Gulf of Mexico 

 seems worthy of more than passing notice, although it is too soon to 

 predict what the results of the venture will be. 



The abundance of snappers and other desirable food-fish in the more 

 distant waters of the Gulf of Mexico has often been attested, but the 

 distance of the grounds from United States ports, the impracticability 

 of employing sailing vessels in the business, and the comparatively 

 limited demand for fish in the local markets of the Gulf coast have up 

 to this time deterred fishermen and capitalists from engaging in a 

 business with so many elements of risk. The company in question, 

 however, projjoses to keep welled fishing smacks continually on the 

 grounds and to have the fish landed in a fresh condition by one or 

 more steamers, which will make frequent trips with the fish to Galves- 

 ton or other shipping-points, whence the catch will be distributed to 

 Northern and Northwestern States. As a matter of general interest 

 and for the special information of those who may hereafter be disposed 

 to take advantage of the liberal policy of the Mexican Government, 

 the conditions imposed on the fishing company in question may be 

 quoted. They are given in a letter which the subsecretary of the 

 department of public works of Mexico transmitted through the Amer- 

 ican minister to the manager of the said company on August 7, 1891 : 



The President of the Repviblic has taken note of your comninnication, dated the 

 13th of May last, transmitted to this department by the department of public works, 

 wherein, as manager of the Red Snapper Fishing Company, of Galveston, you pray 

 for permission to occupy, during the fishing season, the arenas or Alacran inlets, for 

 the sole purpose of meeting there to fish or to take refuge in case of bad weather, 

 and to transfer fish from fishing vessels to steamers to be carried thereby to the port 

 of Galveston; and in virtue thereof the said chief magistrate has decided, pending 

 the issue of the general fishing ordinance, that the permission you seek in the name 

 of the company may be granted under the following conditions: 



1. The companies may select, in the arenas or Alacran inlets, whatever places it 

 may consider most expedient, for the sole and exclusive purpose of anchoring there 

 their fishing vessels, taking refuge there in case of bad weather, and transferring 

 therefrom fish from the fishing vessels to steamers, to be carried thereby to Galveston. 



