562 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



yield abundantly, furnish scarcely enough fish to supply the local demand. In most localities, 

 owing to the peculiar abundance of the mullet at certain seasons, the farmers and laborers engage 

 in their capture long enough to secure a supply of fresh and salt fish for their own tables. These 

 usually have little idea of conducting the fishery on business principles, and take little pains in 

 preparing the products. They are often provided with only the crudest apparatus for the capture 

 of the species, and many fish are lost for lack of salt and packages for curing them, while a large 

 percentage of those dressed are so poorly salted as to render them almost unfit for food. 



The mullet fishermen, then, are, with few exceptions, farmers or laborers, who, after arranging 

 with the owner of a seine and boat, go to the fishing grounds in the fall, assisting in the work of 

 catching, dressing, and salting the fish, receiving in pay a certain percentage of the products. The 

 owners of some of these seines are experienced fishermen, and, as such, are quite successful in 

 directing the labors of the ''green hands," so that the fishery is carried on quite systematically. In 

 many cases, however, the men in charge are farmers, with no better knowledge of the methods of 

 fishing than the landsmen whom they employ. Where the former condition exists the fisheries are 

 often quite remunerative and are carried on with commendable energy ; but where the latter occurs 

 a shiftless set of men gather at the fishing stations, idling about the beach, living in the most 

 uncleanly and disgusting manner, greatly preferring the idleness of camp life to the activity of the 

 industrious fisherman. 



Along the Atlantic coast a majority of those engaged in the mullet fisheries are resident whites, 

 though a good many negroes are also employed. On the Gulf coast, according to Mr. Stearns, a 

 majority of the fishermen are foreigners, the crews being made np of Cubans, Spaniards, Baha- 

 mans (called Conebas), and Creoles. Some of these visit the region for the express purpose of 

 fishing, returning to their homes when the season is over, while others have settled in the locality 

 and content themselves by eking out a miserable existence, working just enough to supply scanty 

 food for themselves and their families. In speaking of the fisheries of La Fayette. Taylor, and Jef- 

 ferson counties, Mr. Stearns says : " The men who carry on the fishery owning the boats, nets, salt, 

 and provisions are the most thrifty class of planters living along the rivers. They fish throughout 

 October, November, and part of December. Their object is mainly to get a good supply of fish for 

 their own use and a few over for sale. The crews are of the poorer classes, generally white, these 

 being quite ready to work a couple of months to secure a small supply of salt fish for their families." 



In referring to the Ocklockonee Bay district, Mr. Stearns says that a number of sponge fishermen 

 engage in the capture of mullet for a few weeks, and that many of the farmers of the region also 

 give considerable attention to the fishery. "These farmers," he says, "are the genuine 'Florida 

 Crackers,' and, with but few exceptions, are a wretched lot of men. They are lazy, ignorant, and 

 unhealthy, not having proper food or taking proper care of their persons." 



5. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF THE FISHERY. 



The mullet are taken in various ways along different portions of the coast. Large quantities 

 are captured in haul-seines wherever the fishing is extensive. In many localities gill-nets, or 

 "drift-nets," as they are sometimes called, are used to great advantage, while cast-nets, both of 

 the Spanish and American patterns, are used for local supply from North Carolina to Texas, the 

 fishermen of Florida employing them m ore extensively than those of any other region. These three 

 kinds of apparatus are the principal ones employed in the fishery, and by means of them the great 

 bulk of mullet are taken. Small quantities have been secured in a pound-net in the Gulf of Mexico, 

 and we are informed by various parties that they are occasionally tempted to take a baited hook, 

 though no one thinks of fishing for them regularly in this way. 



