734 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
NEBRASKA. 
In 1899 there were 196 persons engaged in the fisheries of Nebraska 
in the Missouri and Platte rivers. The capital invested was $122,884, 
and the products amounted to 366,617 pounds, worth $15,937. The 
greater part of the catch was taken in the Missouri River. The prin- 
cipal species obtained were buffalo-fish, 158,162 pounds, worth $4,862; 
cat-fish, 84,970 pounds. worth $6 068: and suckers 838.630 vounds, 
worth $2,967. 
The commercial fisheries of Nebraska are confined to Missouri River 
and the Platte below Kearney. Some fish are taken in other portions 
of the State, and especially in the small lakes, but the fisheries there 
are not of commercial importance. A State interdiction exists against 
the use of any form of net in any of the waters of this State except 
the Missouri River, but this law was not enforced previous to 1899. 
Seines, trammel nets, set lines, and fyke nets or ** bait nets” comprise 
the forms of apparatus employed, the first named securing over two- 
thirds of the yield. 
Of the commercial fisheries of Nebraska over 80 per cent exist 
along Missouri River, the catch from that stream in 1899 being 309,422 
pounds out of a total yield in the State of 366,617 pounds. Most of 
the counties bordering this river have commercial fisheries, the more 
important being located in Douglas, Larpy, and Nemaha counties. 
The yield in the county first named is over one-half the total product 
in the State. Butfalo-fish, cat-fish, fresh-water drum, and paddle-fish 
are the most abundant species obtained, other species being suckers, 
lake sturgeon, pike perch (wall-eyed), and white bass. 
In Knox County a number of seines, fyke nets, and set lines are used 
at the mouth of Niobrara River by residents of Niobrara. The catch, 
consisting of 25,000 pounds of cat-fish, buffalo-fish, suckers, etc., Is 
marketed at Niobrara, Running Water, and the adjacent regions. The 
current of the Niobrara is very swift, consequently fishing is limited 
to periods of low water or to the *‘slack-waters.” 
In Dakota County several men use trammel nets in Crysta: Lake and 
the Missouri River. Crystal Lake is a body of clear water, situated 
about 2 miles from Missouri River. It contains buffalo-fish, pike 
perch (wall-eyed), fresh-water drum, yellow perch, and grass pike, 
named in the order of abundance in which taken. The catch is mar- 
keted at Sioux City, lowa, and in the interior of Dakota. One seine 
and several fyke nets were also used in the Missouri River at Dakota 
in 1899. 
At Blair, Washington County, seines, fyke nets, and set lines are 
employed, the catch consisting of buffalo-fish, cat-fish, suckers, paddle- 
tish, and fresh-water drum, all of which are consumed locally. 
In Douglas County seines, trammel nets, fyke nets, and set lines 
