FISHERIES, BY STATES. 



271 



The large quantity reported for the Mississippi 

 River district in 1899 consisted chiefly of mussel 

 shells, the food-fish catch in that year being only about 

 a million pounds. A period of great excitement over 

 pearl hunting began in 1896, and this activity, while it 

 lasted, drew fishermen away from their usual pur- 

 suits, so that the catch of fish proper was very small. 



Persons employed. The following table gives data 

 concerning the persons employed in the fisheries of 

 Wisconsin in 1908. The number connected with the 

 shore and boat fisheries, including 36 of the shoresmen, 

 was 1,528, while the number credited to vessel fish- 

 eries, including the 86 remaining shoresmen, was 473. 

 More than one-half of the persons employed in the 

 shore and boat fisheries, and nearly nine-tenths of 

 those employed in the vessel fisheries, were reported 

 for the Lake Michigan district. 



1 Exclusive of 42 proprietors not fishing. 



2 Includes provisions" furnished to the value of $11,000. 

 a Less than $100. 



Equipment and other capital. The following tabular 

 statement gives the distribution, by class of investment, 



of the total capital employed in the fisheries of the state 

 and of each district in 1908: 



i Less than $100. 



The value of vessels and boats, including their out- 

 fit, and that of apparatus of capture each formed 

 something over 37 per cent of the total investment, 

 while the value of shore and accessory property, com- 

 bined with the cash reported, amounted to 25 per 

 cent. Of the value of shore and accessory property 

 $126,000 was reported for shore and boat fisheries and 

 $110,000 for vessel fisheries and transporting vessels. 

 The amount of cash invested in the shore and boat 

 fisheries was $20,000 and that in the vessel fisheries 

 $19,000. The shore and boat fisheries were therefore 

 credited with $553,000, vessel fisheries with $533,000, 

 and transporting vessels with $14,000. The invest- 

 ment in the Lake Michigan fisheries represented 85. 

 per cent of the total for the state and comprised 

 $427,000 invested in shore and boat fisheries, $507,000 

 in vessel fisheries, and $500 in transporting vessels. 

 Of the Lake Superior investment, which formed less 

 than 8 per cent of the total for the state, $54,000 per- 

 tained to shore and boat fisheries, $21,000 to vessel 

 fisheries, and $8,500 to transporting vessels. 



Nearly one-half of the investment in the Mississippi 

 River district represented the value of apparatus of 

 capture. 



The following tabular statement gives statistics con- 

 cerning the number and tonnage of vessels and the 

 number of boats : 



