THE SAYANNAH EIVEE, GEOEGIA. 621 



the catch varying from six to fifty in a day, according to the condition of the water and the good 

 luck or skill of the fishermen.* 



FISHING WITH HATJL-SEINES AND GILL-NETS. The use of floating gill-nets is not practicable 

 at any point above Augusta on account of the shoals and rapids of the river. Below that city the 

 river is navigable for steamboats, and no traps are used. Haul-seines were formerly used at favor- 

 able locations all aloug the river for some 60 miles below Augusta. At Sand Bar Ferry, 5 miles 

 below the city, was a noted fishery where the product each season bore no insignificant proportion 

 to the entire catch of the river at the presentrtime. These seine-shores are now abandoned, and 

 the gillers gam a precarious subsistence by drifting in the empty seine berths. 



Some short seines, gill-nets, and scoop-nets are fished all along the river in an irregular way 

 for local supply, but the fishing for market is altogether with (float-seines) gill-nets. From Au- 

 gusta to Johnston's Landing, 60 miles below, there were engaged in gill-net fishing, during the 

 season of 1879, fifty nets and boats and one hundred men. The men are all native, about one- 

 half being white. In most cases they own boats and outfit; but some receive their outfit from the 

 dealers, to whom they agree to deliver their whole catch at a stipulated price ; then from the net 

 returns of sales the dealers deduct the cost of boat and nets, paying the fishermen the balance. 



The average catch to the boat during 1879 was 300, making the total catch of the gillers in 

 the upper river 15,000 for the season. 



From Johnston's Landing down there is no fishing for market until we reach the vicinity of 

 Savannah, where we find twenty-five nets and boats and fifty men fishing to supply the Savannah 

 market. 



The fishing grounds of the Lower Savannah are the straight reaches of the river for some 

 miles above and below the city. The nets are about 100 fathoms long and from forty to fifty meshes 

 deep. They are laid out across the channel, and from the extreme narrowness of the river they 

 occupy and obstruct a considerable portion of the entire breadth. With twenty -five of these nets 

 in the water at once, in tehelon, and at no great distances apart, a very effectual obstruction to 

 the upward movement of fish is established. 



STURGEON FISHERY. The sturgeon fisheries of the Savannah are of considerable commercial 

 importance. In the lower part of the river, in the vicinity of Savannah, and for some 40 miles 

 above, this fish is pursued by professional fishermen from the Northern States, especially Conned icut, 

 New Jersey, and Delaware, who later in the season carry on the same work in the Delaware. The 

 same nets are earlier in the season kept busy in the Saint Mary's, the Satillas, and the Altamaha. 

 The product of all these fisheries centers at Savannah, and the details are given in full in the sec- 

 tion on the subject of the sturgeon trade of that place. 



STATISTICS FOB 1880. The following is a summary of the fisheries of the Savannah Eiver 

 for 1880: 



No of men employed in the fisheries . 331 



Amount of capital employed $9,395 



Product of the fisheries : 



Shad pounds.. 138,250 



Sturgeon do 88,500 



Mixed fish do 361,500 



Value of products do $36,754 



Cast-nets are used in the Savannah Eiver in fishing for shad, trout, red-horse, &c., and all along the southern 

 coast for taking shrimp, mullets, &c. They are likewise in use in all the lakes and small streams of the interior. 

 Their use is only possible in comparatively shallow waters with a clear bottom, for if there be rocks or snags the net 

 will hang and the fish escape. The cast-net is used to great advantage in the mouths of the rice trunks. When the 

 tide runs down, trout, silversides, and suckers collect in the pools, and are sometimes taken a half bushel at a throw. 



