180 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
The prominent features of the fisheries, as disclosed by the inquiry, 
may be chiefly mentioned, as follows: The large foreign element en- 
gaged in the industry, amounting to about 25 per cent, the aliens being 
most numerous in Louisiana, where they constitute one-third of the 
fishing population; the predominance of seines as a means of capture, 
gill nets and lines being important only in Florida, and pound nets, 
trap nets, and fyke nets, which are so extensively used in some other 
regions, not being used; the presence of a large fleet of lug-rigged 
vessels in Louisiana, a type which is peculiar to the Gulf region; the 
recent establishment of numerous factories for utilizing raw products 
of the fisheries, especially oysters, turtles, and shrimps; the extent of 
the oyster fishery (which is the most important and yielded $796,062), 
the sponge fishery (the output of which had a value of $438,692), the 
mullet fishery (valued at $238,528), the snapper fishery (which brought 
the fishermen $154,716), the squeteague fishery (which yielded $122,570), 
and the shrimp fishery (worth $108,811). 
The only previous examination of the fisheries of these States ad- 
dressed to complete statistical information was undertaken in 1880 by 
Mr. Silas Stearns in connection with the work of the U. S. Fish Com- 
mission in behalf of the Tenth Census. Although other inquiries have 
since been made by this Commission covering various phases of the 
fisheries, the report of Mr. Stearns is the only one that essays to be 
complete or affords an opportunity for comparing the past and present 
conditions of the industry. Since 1880, the fisheries of the Gulf States 
have undergone an important advance in nearly every feature. The 
increase in the number of fishermen amounted to 6,621, or 129 per cent; 
the increase in investment was $2,432,708, or 446 per cent, and the 
increase in the value of the catch was $1,211,131, or 99 per cent. The 
fisheries of Mississippi have grown at an unprecedentedly rapid rate, 
the proportional increase in the three foregoing particulars being 825 
per cent, 4,840 per cent, and 990 per cent, respectively. The importance 
of the oyster in this region is made manifest by the statement that 
nearly half of the aggregate increase during the past decade, viz, 
$564,862, represented that mollusk, and that in every State the output 
of this product has been conspicuously augmented, a condition due in 
no small degree to the establishment of canning and packing houses. 
POTOMAC RIVER. 
In May and June, 1891, a canvass of the fisheries of the Potomac 
River and its tributaries was made by Mr. W. A. Wilcox. At the time 
of the inquiry the most important fish were being caught and a favor- 
able opportunity was thus afforded to meet the fishermen and inspect 
the means and methods employed. The investigation had special refer- 
ence to the condition of the shad fishery, but also related to all other 
branches. - Mr. Wilcox began work at the mouth of the river and 
continued his inquiries as far as the Little Falls, 3 miles above Wash- 
