804 HISTOltY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



boats and seventy-five cast-nets are constantly employed. The daily catch during June and July 

 often exceeds 100 plates to the boat, while the average catch for the season is from GO to 75 plates 

 daily per boat. The boats make on an average about four aud a half trips per week. 



Early in July the prawns disappear and their place is filled by the smaller shrimp, which 

 continue in great abundance until the middle of November. The difference in size between the 

 prawns and shrimp may be measured roughly as follows : Of the former only about forty are 

 required to fill a plate, while a plate full of the latter numbers fifty to sixty. The shrimp fishery 

 continues to the close of the season, with about the same number of men and boats as were 

 engaged in the later prawn fishery, aud the average catch also remains about the same, but the 

 price which started at 50 cents for prawns in April soon falls to 25 cents, then to 15, aud later to 

 10 cents per plate, the retail price being about 15 cents, and that to dealers from 8 to 10 cents. 

 The city authorities exact a monthly license of $1 from each fish vender in the city, which tends 

 to limit the number of that class, but the shrimp venders are placed under no such restraint, and 

 many men, women, and children embrace the opportunity of making a few pennies in this line 

 of business, which requires only a tray and plate in addition to the small daily stock in trade. At 

 early dawn the entire city is aroused from its slumbers by the incessant cries of "Shrimp" aud 

 "Prawn," as more than a hundred venders, all blacks, and each with a well balanced tray upon 

 his head, wander through the streets and alleys, trying- to dispose of their goods. Shrimp have 

 come to be considered a standard article of food by the Charleston residents, who eat them 

 during the entire season. The greater part of the entire catch is sold in the city, either for 

 bait or food, and the quantity sent to outside markets reaches only a few hundred bushels 

 yearly. The shrimp catch for April equals about 10,000 plates, valued at $4,000, aud the same 

 from May to November 15 equals about 40,000 plates, valued at $34,667. This is the price as 

 sold from the boat, but the retail value must exceed $60,000. 



GEORGIA. Shrimp abound along the entire sea-coast of Georgia, from Savannah to the Florida 

 line. They are taken for food, the prawns from March to June, and the shrimp from July to 

 November, in nets of one-half inch mesh. They are caught in large quantities to supply the 

 Savannah and other Georgia markets, and are also shipped to New York and other northeru 

 cities. This iudustry has not, however, attained the proportions in this State which it has in 

 South Carolina. The sales for 1879 amounted to 1,600 bushels, valued at $3,500. 



EASTERN FLORIDA. On the sea-coast about Fernandina, shrimp and prawns are very com- 

 mon, and furnish abundant material for a profitable industry ; but at present from the want of 

 sufficient capital this fishery is not as flourishing as it has been or as it gives promise of becoming 

 in the future. We are indebted to Capt. T. E. Fisher, of Fernandina, for very full notes on the 

 fishery at that place, from which the following account has been prepared: 



According to Captain Fisher, the so-called prawns approach the coast about the full moon in 

 March or thereabouts, and enter the bays, rivers, and creeks in large quantities as he thinks, to 

 spawn. About May or June they return again to the sea, and are replaced by very small shrimp, 

 which from May until August are used mainly as fish-bait. From August to December they 

 increase rapidly in size, the best shrimping season being during the mouths of September and 

 October. If the winter is warm the shrimp and prawns remain on the coast during the entire year, 

 but ordinarily prawns are found from March until May, and shrimp from May to December. The 

 fishing is usually conducted on muddy, but sometimes on sandy bottoms in from 6 inches to 4 feet 

 of water and deeper. Cast-nets from 10 to 15 feet in diameter are generally employed, as seines 

 when they have been used have given less satisfaction. The shrimp and prawns do not approach 

 the shore as thickly in the daytime as at night, so that the fishing is mostly carried on after dark. 



