THE COAST FISHERIES OF TEXAS. - 399 
through San Luis Pass. Hast Bay lies between Bolivar Peninsula and 
the mainland = It is 15 miles long and varies in width from 1 to 7 miles. 
The average depth of water in this tributary is from 5 to7 feet. Trinity 
Bay lies north of Galveston Bay, and into this tributary the Trinity, 
San Jacinto, and smaller rivers empty. On account of its distance from 
the sea and the number of rivers emptying into it, the waters of Trinity 
Bay are quite fresh. The average depth of water in this tributary is 
between 9 and 11 feet. West Bay separates Galveston Island from the 
mainland, and is about 24 miles in breadth and 23 miles in length. It 
is very shallow, being at no point more than 7 or 8 feet in depth and in 
some places is forded by cattle. Oyster Bay, sometimes called Christ- 
mas Bay, is a tributary of West Bay, and most of its waters find out- 
let through San Luis Pass. The area of Galveston Bay and its tribu- 
taries is estimated at 565 square miles, Laguna Madre with an area 
approximating 811 square miles being the only larger body of water 
in Texas. 
The abundance of fish in Galveston Bay seems to have somewhat 
decreased during the past several years, and the crews seining here 
catch on an average a less quantity per seine than those in the other 
important fishing sections along the coast. Although quantities of 
fish are shipped into the interior from Galveston Bay, yet at times the 
catch is not sufficient to supply the local demand, and large consign- 
ments are received from other fishing ports. The great bulk of the 
catch is sold at Galveston City, but occasionally some of the boats run 
up Buffalo Bayou and dispose of their catch at Houston, while a few 
fish are sold at Wallisville, Harrisburg, and other villages on the shores 
of Galveston Bay. More of the so-called ‘cheap fish” are saved by 
Galveston Bay fishermen than elsewhere along this coast. This is due 
to the larger local demand among poor people. 
The total number of professional fishermen living around Galveston 
Bay and its tributaries in 1890 was 440. Of these, 284 lived on the 
island of Galveston, 52 on Bolivar Peninsula, 48 at Buffalo Bayou and 
Oyster or Christmas Bay, and some on the mainland between Virginia 
Point and Chocolate Bayou. All of these men depended on oystering 
and fishing for a living, except those on Bolivar Peninsula and on the 
middle and western part of Galveston Island, who gave attention to 
truck farming as well-as to the products of the bay. Besides these 
regular fishermen, about 150 men engage at times in fishing with cast 
nets, crab pots, etc., and 96 men were constantly employed in trans- 
porting and marketing the fishery products. 
~The fisheries prosecuted.—The bay-seine fishery and the oyster indus- 
try are the two principal fisheries prosecuted in this locality, and the 
persons engaging in one of these do not as a rule engage in the other. 
Several minor fisheries are also carried on, as the surf-seine the shrimp, 
flounder, crab, and cast-net fisheries, and the line fishery for red suap- 
pers and other fish. 
