136 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



cock County. These are all small towns, Biloxi, with a population not 

 exceeding 5,000, being the largest and most important fishing and trade 

 center. 



General statistics. — The number of persons employed on the vessels 

 fishing and transporting was 382; on boats in the various branches 

 of shore fisheries, 679 ; in the canneries and packing houses, 1,504 — a 

 total of 2,565. 



The number of vessels engaged in fishing and transporting fishery 

 products was 83, having a value, including their outfits, of $107,063; 

 the number of boats of all classes used in the shore fisheries was 439, 

 valued at 117,039. The apparatus of capture used by vessels and 

 boats, consisting of seines, trammel nets, gill nets, cast nets, dredges, 

 tongs, spears, and lines, was valued at $19,255. The value of shore 

 and accessory property, which comj^rises chiefly the canneries and the 

 packing houses, was $125,644 — a total investment, if the cash capital 

 employed in the canning and packing industries, amounting to $249,300, 

 is included, of $518,301. 



The products of the fisheries consisted of 1,358,890 pounds of fish, 

 valued at $46,041; 1,903,165 pounds of shrimp, valued at $28,804; 

 458,520 hard and soft crabs in number, valued at $5,214; 3,372 terra- 

 pin, valued at $1,275; and 629,713 bushels, or about 251,885 barrels of 

 oysters, valued at $110,964; the total value of products being $192,298. 



In the quantity and value of nearly all products, except shrimj), 

 there was a large falling off from recent years. This may be explained 

 by the fact that owing to the prevalence of yellow fever in this section 

 in the fall of 1897 a rigid quarantine was maintained from September 6 

 to November 12; all means of transportation were suspended and the 

 fisheries and canning and packing industries were practically discon- 

 tinued. The shrimp fishery has materially increased, and it seems 

 probable that under more favorable conditions all other branches of 

 the fisheries would have been more extensive than ever before. 



The three following tables show, by counties, the number of persons 

 employed, the number and value of vessels, boats, and apparatus used, 

 the amount of capital invested, and the quantity and value of the 

 products of the fisheries of Mississippi in 1897 : 



Table shoiving hy counties the number of persons employed in the fisheries of Mississippi 



in 1897. 



Counties. 



Jackson . . . 

 Harrison .. 

 Hancock .. 



Total 



On ves- 

 sels iish- 

 ing. 



20 

 241 

 104 



On ves- 

 sels 

 trans- 

 porting. 



365 



Boat or 

 shore 

 fisher- 

 men. 



271 

 296 

 112 



679 



Shores- 

 men. 



143 



1,107 



254 



1,504 



Total. 



434 



1,661 



470 



