COAST STRIP. 91 



Some idea of the size of the fishing industry may be 

 gathered from a special report on fisheries published by the 

 Census Bureau in 1911, and covering the year 1908. In 

 that Alabama is divided into two districts, the Tennessee 

 River and the Gulf of Mexico district. The latter includes 

 the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers as well as Mobile Bay 

 and the neighboring Gulf, but the value of the river fisheries 

 is probably much less than that of the coastal waters, and 

 anyway we can omit from the returns the strictly fresh- 

 water species. Some of the results of the investigation are 

 shown in Table 18. 



TABLE 18. 

 Census returns of fisheries of the Gulf district of Alabama, 1908. 



Pei-sons engaged: 



Proprietors and independent fishermen 747 



Wage-earners _ 221 



Salaried employees _ _ 4 



Expenses : 



Salaries _ _ $5,200 



Wages ( including rations ) _ 95,000 



Capital invested: 



Vessels and outfits (61) $120,000 



Boats ( 581 ) _ _ 33,000 



Tackle _ 19,000 



Shore and accessory' property 63,000 



Cash ;.._ _ 17,000 



Value of products: 



Fish $177,000 



Oysters ( 590,000 bu.) 173,000 



Crabs and shrimp , 7,300 



Turtles ... 600 



Total _ $357,900 



The principal species of fish, in order of value, were red 

 snapper (from the deep sea only), mullet (mostly along 

 shore) , squeteague, channel bass, and catfish. 



