Hart. — Oyster and Fish Industry of Louisiana 155 



but under the present conditions the channels are kept clean 

 of refuse, incidentally keeping this from infecting the 

 oyster beds. Continual warfare, however, is always kept 

 up between the dredgers and the fishermen for fear that 

 the dredges will encroach on the oyster preserves and in- 

 jure the plants. This, however, has very rarely been the 

 case, and the oyster business at the present time is at its 

 height. 



THE OYSTER SHIPMENTS 



From the local fields the state of Louisiana, Mississippi, 

 Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona and New Mexico 

 derive almost their entire supply of oysters, while a great 

 quantity of the local catch is shipped to Texas, Tennessee 

 and California, the latter state being provided with only 

 the best oysters that can be afforded by the local market. 



The territory which is supplied by the Louisiana oyster 

 is continually broadening, however, and every year brings 

 a greater demand and necessitates more factories and 

 shucking plants in the city and state. In the past fifteen 

 years the oyster industries of Louisiana have broadened 

 out by 60 per cent. 



Together with the oyster fisheries come the kindred fish- 

 eries of shrimp, they being canned and shipped all over the 

 country. The shrimp fishing, however, is more uncertain 

 than the oyster fishing, being generally governed by 

 weather. Shrimp travel in large schools and cover a vast 

 area in a short time, being found in different places at dif- 

 ferent times. Although hard to catch at times, they are of 

 an excellence and variety that only Louisiana can offer. 

 Within a mile of where the salt-water shrimp, large and 

 tempting, have been caught are found the smaller, sweeter 

 variety of lake shrimp. These lake shrimp abound in bay- 

 ous, canals and lakes along the southern part of the state, 

 while the salt-water shrimp are generally found in the bays 

 along the uneven coast. 



