28 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



The value of the water products taken and sold by United States 

 fishermen in 1905 was approximately $56,250,000, and this sum is 

 exclusive of the very considerable fisheries of insular possessions and 

 the immense quantities of fish taken for home consumption and by 

 sportsmen. In no other country are the commercial fisheries more 

 valuable as a whole than in the United States, and in no country is the 

 financial condition of the fishing population better. The number of 

 persons who make a livelihood in this industry is about 232,000, and 

 the capital invested exceeds $82,000,000. 



The most valuable of all the fishery products is the oyster, in the 

 output of which the United States surpasses all other countries com- 

 bined. The crop of 1905 may be placed at 32,000,000 bushels, with a 

 market value of $15,760,000. The most significant feature of the 

 industry is the growing appreciation of the benefits of oyster culture 

 and of the desirability of selling or leasing barren bottoms for oyster 

 planting. Each year a larger proportion of the oyster crop is taken 

 from cultivated grounds and the business is thus placed on a more 

 secure basis. It is estimated that in 1905 over 11,875,000 bushels, 

 valued at $8,775,000, were marketed from private grounds. Virginia 

 has recently assumed the first rank as an oyster-producing state, owing 

 chiefly to the more general practice of oyster farming, the state's 

 yield being now upward of 8,500,000 bushels, with a value to the 

 producers of $3,250,000. 



The great high-sea fisheries for cod, haddock, hake, halibut, mack- 

 erel, herring, and other well-known food fishes have been fairly suc- 

 cessful as a whole, and have yielded about $7,500,000. The catch of 

 both fresh and salt cod was somewhat less than in the previous year; 

 that of haddock and hake was larger. The halibut fishery has been 

 followed by fewer vessels, with a consequent falling off in catch. The 

 take of mackerel was less than in any of the four preceding years; the 

 sudden decrease in the abundance of this fish, beginning in 1886 and 

 continuing to the present time, is one of the most remarkable cases of 

 the kind. Swordfish were probably never known to be so abundant 

 as in the summer and fall of 1904, and large numbers were captured 

 for the New England markets. 



The lobster fishery continues to show a diminishing yield, with a 

 disproportionate increase in value. In 1905 the catch was less than in 

 the previous year, and on the Massachusetts coast was particularly 

 light. The decrease in the abundance of the lobster, which began 

 about fifteen years ago and has been due to overfishing and violation 

 of law, can be arrested only by extensive cultural operations and 

 rigidly enforced restrictive measures. At present a large part of the 

 lobsters consumed in the United States comes from Nova Scotia. 



The whale fishery, which at one time was carried on by an immense 

 fleet of fine sailing vessels and was the leading fishing industry of the 



