FISHERIES, BY STATES. 



243 



The Mississippi River district is credited with 85 per 

 cent of the total investment in the fisheries of the 

 state. The investment in this district included 75 per 

 cent of the total investment in boats for the state, 84 

 per cent of that in apparatus of capture, 93 per cent 

 of that in shore and accessory property, and the total 

 amount of cash reported. The Mississippi River dis- 

 trict reported 10 of the 12 steam and motor boats and 

 218 of the 387 boats included under the head "Row 

 and other." 



The numbers of the more important kinds of appa- 

 ratus of capture used, all of which, with the exception 

 of 699 fyke and hoop nets reported for the Cumberland 

 and Tennessee Rivers, were used in the Mississippi 

 River district, were as follows: 



Fyke and hoop nets 2, 904 



Pound nets 19 



Seines 8 



Shrimp trap.-; 



Spears and gigs 



Trammel nets . . 



50 

 63 



28 



Products, by species. The distribution of the fishery 

 products of the state, by species and by apparatus of 

 capture, is shown in Table 1, on page 244. 



The most important products in respect to value 

 were buffalo fish, catfish, mussel shells, pearls, and 

 slugs, and black bass; these products representing 62 

 per cent, or about five-eighths, of the total value of 

 products for the state. 



Products, by fishing grounds. The products of the 

 Mississippi River district and of the Tennessee and 

 Cumberland Rivers are given in detail, by species and 

 apparatus of capture, in Tables 2 and 3, on page 245. 



The following tabular statement distributes the 

 value of products, by species arranged in the order of 

 value, for the state and for each district: 



The fish products proper amounted in the aggregate 

 to 2,330,000 pounds, or 52 per cent of the total weight 

 of all fishery products, and were valued at $97,000, or 

 87 per cent of the total value. Of the total value of 

 products reported for the Mississippi River district, 

 the value of fish proper constituted 98 per cent; but 

 the proportion was only 65 per cent in the case of the 

 fisheries of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. 



Practically all of the black bass, crappie, and paddle- 

 fish, as well as a large part of the buffalo fish, catfish, 

 and German carp, were obtained from the Mississippi 

 River district. The only fish which was more abun- 

 dant in the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers than in 

 the Mississippi River was the fresh-watsr drum, the 

 product of which, however, was less in quantity and 

 value than the catfish product of the first two rivers. 

 The mussel-shell products, including pearls and slugs^ 

 contributed 35 per cent of the value of the fishery 

 products of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. 



The combined catch of the Mississippi River and its 

 tributary waters, exclusive of the Tennessee and Cum- 

 berland Rivers, was 1,993,000 pounds, valued at 

 $73,000, while that of the Tennessee and Cumberland 

 Rivers was 2,513,000 pounds, valued at $39,000. The 

 value reported for the former district formed 65 per 

 cent of the value of all the fishery products of the 

 state. 



The following tabular statement gives in detail the 

 products of the Reelfoot Lake fisheries in 1908: 



Products, by apparatus of capture. The following 

 tabular statement shows the distribution, by apparatus 

 of capture, of the value of the fishery products reported 

 for the state as a whole and for the two districts into 

 which it is divided: 



The value of the catch- by fyke and hoop nets rep- 

 resented 40 per cent of the value of all the fishery 

 products of Tennessee. Lines ranked next in value 

 of catch, taking nearly all of the black bass, the larger 

 part of the catfish, and all of the eels. Crowfoot 

 dredges were used exclusively in the mussel-shell and 

 pearl industries. 



