580 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES. 



Iii referring to a locality where some of the fish are peddled, Mr. Stearns says that some of 

 the fishermen prefer to carry their catch to market, though a majority sell at their own doors. 

 Those who adopt the former plan load up their ox carts and start for the interior, stopping at every 

 small town and plantation along the road until all of their mullet have been sold. In case 

 they have been preceded by other carts, they find it necessary to travel a good many miles, 

 some of them going as far as Columbus before they have disposed of their entire load. This 

 practice was more prevalent in ante bellum days than at present, and at that time the planters, 

 who fed their slaves largely on fish and bacon, were the principal buyers. 



For many years Cuba has been an important market for salted mullet. Thirty years ago the 

 fishermen at the mouth of the Saint John's were extensively engaged in salting fish for shipment 

 to Havana, and though the business has been discontinued in that locality, it is still kept up by 

 the fishermen of the Gulf coast. A large percentage of the mullet taken in Southern Florida are 

 dry-salted and sent to Cuba, many of the fisheries being provided with vessels that devote their 

 entire attention to marketing the catch. These vessels make regular trips during the fishing 

 season between Havana, Matanzas, Cardenas, and other ports, selling the salted mullet at 3.J to 4 

 cents per pound and the dried roes at 50 to 75 cents per dozen. The duty on fish imported into 

 the West Indies amounts to $1.40 per quintal. Probably a majority of all the mullet roes put up 

 along the Gulf coast, as well as many of those prepared on the Atlantic seaboard, find their way 

 to the Cuban markets. 



POSSIBILITIES FOE THE FUTTJEE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MULLET FISHERIES. Questions are 

 often asked by fishermen and capitalists in different parts of the country concerning the abundance 

 of the mullet along the Southern coast and the possibilities of a further development of the mullet 

 fisheries. There seems to have been a wide difference of opinion on the subject, and the answers 

 to the questions have been very conflicting. Some maintain that the species is now taken in as 

 large numbers as practicable, and that as many fish are now placed upon the market as can be sold 

 to advantage. Parties holding these views think the mullet not sufficiently abundant to warrant 

 any extended commercial fisheries, and they further claim that the fish, owing to their inferior fla- 

 vor, are not destined to be generally introduced. Others, on the contrary, insist that the prospects 

 for an extended development of the fishery are very encouraging. They state that the fish occur 

 in such numbers as to practically do away with the question of extermination from overfishing, 

 and that the mullet when properly prepared compare favorably with any other species, and further 

 that by a little effort they can be readily introduced into almost any portion of the country. 



During our visit to the South we were unfortunate in that we did not see the fishery at its 

 height, though in many localities considerable quantities were taken daily, thus enabling us to 

 get a pretty definite idea of their relative importance as compared with other species. In addition 

 to our own observations, we improved every opportunity for gathering, from the most reliable 

 sources, such information on all points connected with the abundance of the species and the prose- 

 cution of the fishery as would lead to a better understanding of the subject. 



After comparing these notes with our own observations, we are led to believe that the pros- 

 pects for an extended development of the mullet fisheries are very favorable. The reasons for this 

 view may be briefly stated as follows: 



(1) Abundance and extended distribution of the mullet. One or more species of mullet may 

 be found in the waters of seventeen of our twenty one sea-bordering States and Territories In 

 thirteen of these it is taken in greater or less quantities for food, and in seven States, covering a 

 coast line of hundreds of miles, it is more abundant than any other species during six months of 

 the year, while in some localities it is never entirely absent. 



