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REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 179 
Factories designed for the canning and packing of oysters have been 
established in every State, and have always resulted in an increased 
output, owing to the convenient market and ready sale afforded the 
fishermen. 
The following table will convey a clear idea of the large advance that 
has taken place in the oyster fishery of each State since 1880: 
Statement of the yield of oysters in the Sowth Atlantic States in 1880, 1887, 1888, 1889, 
and 1890. 
| North Carolina. | South Carolina. | Georgia. | Florida. Total. 
Year. |= i ae ea ed Sa ae |- SS Se 
Bushels. | Value. | Bushels.| Value. | Bushels.| Value. | Bushels.| Value.| Bushels.| Value. 
1880-- =~. 170, 000 |$60, 000 50, 000 |$20, 000 | 70, 000 |$35, 000 20,000 | $5,000 | 310,000 |$120, 000 
LESS. SS: 212,980 | 48, 353 37,725 | 18,581 | 110,086 |} 26,950 | 48,250] 9,950} 409,041 | 103, 834 
1SsRose 204, 703 | 46,129 | 40,242 | 19,146 | 120,600 | 29,370 | 57,750 | 12,950 | 423,295 | 107,595 
10s HSS ee 1, 001, 620 |194,272 | 4%, 620 | 19,890 | 163,200 | 26,684 | 62,356 | 11,123 |1,270, 796 | 251, 969 
ihe eee 807, 260 |175, 567 | 63, 150 | 23, 204 | 224, 357 | 40,520 | 97,350 | 14,850 |1, 192,117 | 254, 141 
GULF COAST. 
For a number of years the investigation of the fisheries of the States 
bordering on the Gulf of Mexico had been contemplated, but the in- 
quiry was deferred from time to time owing to the small force available 
and the more urgent need of studies in other coast regions. By the 
Ist of January, 1891, however, the opportunity for inaugurating this 
work seemed favorable, and accordingly four agents, Messrs. W. H. 
Abbott, Ansley Hall, EK. H. Race, and ©. H. Stevenson, were detailed 
to examine and report on the fisheries and related industries of this 
region. The fisheries of no other section of the United States had 
received less attention and very little information was at hand bearing 
on their present condition, extent, and resources. The results of the 
inquiry were therefore awaited with interest. Three months were con- 
sumed in work, during which time the agents canvassed the entire 
coastal region from Key West to the Rio Grande. 
The reports of the agents show that in 1890, the last year covered 
by the investigation, 11,752 persons were employed in the fisheries of 
the Gulf States; the capital invested amounted to $2,978,292, and the 
value of the catch was $2,458,675. Comparing these figures with the 
returns from the New England, Middle Atlantic, and Pacifie States, 
the fisheries of this region are much less extensive. It is not in their 
present condition, however, that their importance chiefly consists, but 
rather in their recent phenomenal growth and the possibilities for still 
greater development. The fishery resources of the Gulf States are 
very extensive. Few sections of the country are better supplied with 
desirable marine food and economic products, including fish, reptiles, 
mollusks, crustaceans, and sponges. The utilization of these has as 
yet been incomplete, but the past growth of the industry and the pres-. 
ent attention it is receiving will doubtless greatly advance the fishing 
interests in the near future. 
