GULF OF MEXICO: TEXAS. 585 



STATISTICS. It is ' estimated that $9,000 are invested iu the fisheries, $10,000 in the oyster 

 business, and $12,000 in packing establishments; this gives as the total sum invested $31,400. 



The fishermen receive from 3 cents to 5 cents a pound for their fish, and the oysterrnen, 011 an 

 average, $1 a barrel. Green turtles sell at 3 cents a pound, and shrimp at 25 cents a bucket. 

 The canning of shrimp at this point is elsewhere described. 



213. PROFESSOR JORDAN'S ACCOUNT OF THE FISHERIES OF GALVESTON AND 



VICINITY. 



APPARATUS AND METHODS. There are in Galveston about fifty boats and ten "wagons" 

 engaged in the capture of fish and shrimp. Some of these are idle from time to time, so that an 

 average of perhaps forty are steadily employed. 



The boats are all, or nearly all, of the "Italian" style the deck half covered. They are all 

 cat rigged, and range in size from about three-fourths of a ton to li tons. None of them are 

 specially adapted for rough water, and they do not venture outside the bay, except in very calm 

 weather. There was formerly a single "lateen" or "lugger- rigged" boat here, but the style has 

 been discarded. 



The fishing is nearly all done by means of seines, and these seines are very shallow, ranging 

 from 4 to 7 feet in depth, and probably not averaging over 5 to 5J. The net is not "paid out" from 

 the boat in most cases, but is taken out by wading and hauled in over shallow sand-flats. As a result, 

 only species remaining very close to shore are usually taken, and there is therefore very little variety 

 in the markets. The boats go to various distances from 1 to 30 miles from Galveston, the best 

 fishing grounds now being around the west end of the island of Galveston, nearly 30 miles from 

 the city. 



The " wagon-fishing " is chiefly done ou the south coast of the island, in the surf. The wagon 

 is used to haul the nets out from town and to bring back the fish. The nets are put out by wading 

 in the shallow surf. Most of the fishing from the boats is done in the latter half of the night; 

 from the wagons, in the afternoon. 



Occasionally hand-fishing is done on the sand reef outside the bay, and a few red snapper, 

 jewQsh, and similar species are taken here. In the summer, Spanish mackerel are taken with 

 hook. There are also numerous persons, chiefly negroes, who fish with hand-lines in the surf, 

 using mullet as bait. They catch redfish (Scicena ocellata), Arius felis, and Menticirrus littoralis 

 chiefly, the redfish being always the species desired. Casting-nets (circular, with a lead-line 

 around the outer margin) are occasionally used, but chiefly to secure mullet as bait. No gill-nets 

 are in use. There was formerly a pound-net, but the large fish, sharks and tarpum (Mcgalops), tore 

 it up so much that it was removed. 



FISHEEMEN. About one hundred and fifty men iu Galveston are employed more or less 

 regularly as fishermen. Nearly all are of the race known here as "Dagoes," men from the Mediter- 

 ranean (Genoa, Palermo, Malta, Trieste, Dalmatia, and Greece). There are two Americans, and 

 so far as known to me, no negroes and no persons from northern Europe. Most of them work on 

 shares for the owners of the boats and nets. In some cases, the boat takes two shares and each of 

 the two fishermen one. 



PRODUCTS. A fair estimate of the total annual catch at Galveston is 300,000 to 350,000 

 pounds. A little less than half of this (150,000 pounds) is brought into the fish market in the 

 morning and sold, wholesale and retail, at an average price of 7 cents per pound. About as much 

 more is shipped into the interior of Texas on ice. Some 2,000 pounds a week are received on the 



