276 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
The 5 per cent, decrease in the value of the yield of the South Atlantic 
States is ascribable to practically the same cause as has been mentioned 
for the Middle States, viz : a marked falling off in the shellfish fishery. 
Eastern Florida shows an increase in the output of oysters and general 
products of the fisheries, but there has been a decrease in the three 
States north of it. In all of these States there has been a slight decline 
in the value of products of the general fisheries, but the decrease in 
oysters is most noticeable. 
The marked increase of 48 per cent, in the catch of the Gulf States 
and a still greater advance in the persons and capital employed are due 
to the development of large areas of new fishing grounds, especially in 
the oyster industry. The abundance of oysters in certain sections in 
this region, together with the decrease that has occurred on the coast 
of the Middle States, has induced capital and labor to seek profitable 
employment along the Gulf. 
On the Pacific Coast the increase in the value of the catch takes pre- 
cedence of any other section, it being 50 per cent. The advance in 
the persons employed and capital invested, while large, is less than on 
the Gulf Coast. The increase is most noticeable in the whale fishery, 
the shellfish industry, the crustacean products, and the market fishery. 
Tables 11 and 12 are comparative statements by States and sections 
of the quantities and values of shad taken in 1880 and 1888. This com- 
parison has a special interest, since it may fairly be taken as a basis for 
estimating the effect of artificial propagation of certain species of food- 
fish which, under natural conditions, have become noticeably depleted. 
It is proper to state that the supply of shad had been so much reduced 
by overfishing that in the years immediately succeeding 1880 there was 
reason to fear that the species would soon become so scarce that it would 
no longer be available as a reasonably cheap article of food or the object 
of a profitable fishery. 
In order to comprehend the full significance of this comparison, it is 
well to remember that the artificial propagation of shad on a large 
scale by the U. S. Fish Commission was not undertaken uu til 1881; 
therefore the effect of it upon the abundance of the species could not 
be felt or observed until 1885, when the artificially hatched fish attained 
maturity and returned to the rivers for reproductive purposes. It will 
thus be seen that the excess of the catch of 1888 over that of 1880 
practically shows the result attained by artificial propagation of shad 
in the third season after its effects could, by natural limitations, be 
observed ; and the very important facts are shown that the yield of the 
fishery was almost doubled, and that its value, based on the prices 
obtained in 1880, was increased nearly $700,000. 
It may be admitted that the increased catch has to some degree been 
due to the use of larger quantities of apparatus, but it is evident that 
without a marked increase in the abuudance of shad, as a result of arti- 
