112 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



1 161,000 bushels. 



483.000 bushels. 



If the items given in the foregoing tabular state- 

 ment be deducted from the table on page 113, the latter 

 may be used as a table of the shore and boat fisheries. 

 Groupers and red snappers were taken solely in the 

 vessel fisheries, and only sea bass and market oysters 

 appear in the catch of both vessel fisheries and shore 

 and boat fisheries. The distribution of the products 

 appearing in both the vessel and the shore and boat 

 fisheries is shown in the following tabular statement: 



i 498,000 bushels. 

 161,000 bushels. 



s 337,000 bushels. 

 4 938,000 bushels. 



483.000 bushels. 

 455,000 bushels. 



Practically all of the sea bass was taken by vessel 

 fisheries. The large factor in the catch of both classes 

 of fisheries was market oysters, of which the vessel 

 fisheries reported 644,000 bushels, valued at $117,000, 

 and the shore and boat fisheries 792,000 bushels, 

 valued at $217,000. 



Products, by apparatus of capture. As oysters repre- 

 sented the greater part of the weight and value of the 

 Georgia fishery product, dredges, tongs, etc., were tine 

 leading forms of apparatus of capture. Except for 

 hard clams, valued at $9,000, the entire product taken 

 with dredges, tongs, etc., consisted of oysters. All the 

 clams reported were taken by the shore and boat 

 fisheries. 



On the basis of weight of catch, lines were next in 

 importance, with a catch of 1,810,000 pounds, valued 



at $74,000, followed by gill nets ; with n. catch of 

 1,721,000 pounds, valued at $213,000. On the basis 

 of value of catch, the order is reversed. The total 

 product of Georgia fisheries, exclusive of the catch by 

 dredges and tongs, was 4,571,000 pounds, having a 

 value of $353,000. Of this quantity, lines and gill nets 

 took 3,532,000 pounds, valued at $287,000, and all 

 the remaining varieties of apparatus 1,040,000 pounds, 

 valued at $66,000. Among the products caught by 

 lines the red snapper held first rank, with a weight of 

 880,000 pounds and a value of $30,000. Sea bass and 

 groupers also stood high in the list. The gill-net 

 capture, all by shore and boat fisheries, was chiefly 

 shad. The principal catch with seines consisted of 

 prawn, on the basis of quantity, and terrapin, on the 

 basis of value. 



Oysters. Oysters were of greater relative impor- 

 tance in 1902 than in either 1890 or 1897, as will be 

 seen by reference to the tabular statement on page 

 110. Between 1902 and 1908 the oyster industry 

 made large gains, but the increase for that period was 

 not so great as that for the previous five years. The 

 rapid development made during the latter period and 

 the few years preceding was largely the result of the 

 market created by new canneries. Such was the 

 growth that the Commissioner of Fisheries stated in 

 his report for 1902, in regard to Georgia, that there 

 was very little doubt that in years to come private 

 oyster culture would have to be resorted to on a large 

 scale in this state if the oyster supply were to be main- 

 tained. 1 Private oyster culture had been well started 

 at that time, but no statistics of its extent were pre- 

 sented. The growth of this enterprise is indicated by 

 the table on page 113, which shows that in 1908 the 

 product from the private areas was much larger than 

 that from public areas, amounting to a total of 

 952,000 bushels, as compared with only 507,000 

 bushels from the public areas. Except for the results 

 of private culture, the oyster industry apparently 

 would have shown a loss instead of a gain since 1902, 

 as the product from public areas decreased from 

 1,224,000 bushels in 1902 to 507,000 bushels in 1908. 

 In considering these figures, however, allowance must 

 be made for the fact that while no returns were made 

 for private areas separately in 1902, a considerable 

 product therefrom appears in the totals for that year. 



In each class of fisheries in 1908 oysters from private 

 areas exceeded those from public areas both in quan- 

 tity and in value. 



1 Statistics of the Fisheries of the South Atlantic States, 1902, 

 p. 387. 



