366 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
MISSISSIPPI. 
Only the coast fisneries are included in the tables for this State. 
The fishing industries of Mississippi are remarkable for having in- 
creased more in all directions since the census year than those of any 
other State. In personnel there has been an increase of 642 per cent.; 
in capital, 3,646 per cent. ; in catch, 900 per cent., and in value of catch, 
928 per cent. This advance is due to the establishment of a large vessel 
fishery, which did not exist in 1880, and to a phenomenal development 
of the oyster industry, the product of which in the census year was only 
25,000 bushels, worth $10,000, while in 1888 it was 767,205 bushels, val- 
ued (at firsthand) at $157,463. This industry is developing with unusual 
rapidity, the catch in 1888 exceeding that of the previous year by 186,105 
bushels. Canneries are being established and there istnuch activity in 
developing and working grounds. 
The general food-fish fisheries have also developed rapidly in recent 
years, but there are no figures available for making satisfactory com- 
parisons. 
134. Table of persons employed. 
How engaged. 
1887. 
1888. 
On vessels 
114 
143 
On boats 
*379 
437 
On shore, in canneries, etc 
660 
800 
Total 
1, 153 
1,380 
*13 in 1887 and 14 in 1888 were semi-professionals. 
135. Table of apparatus and capital. 
How engaged. 
1887. 
1888. 
Ho. 
Value. 
No. 
Value. 
Vessels fishing* ........................ ... ....... 
34 
$20, 420 
7, 476 
14, 691 
1, 750 
42 
$24, 600 
9,305 
14, 526 
1, 750 
Outfit 
Boats ... ..................... ............. 
240 
256 
Apparatus of capture — vessel fisheries : 
Seines ..... ............................ 
- 20 
20 
Tongs .............. .................... 
130 
780 
164 
996 
Sponge outfit 
5 
5 
Apparatus of capture —shore fisheries : 
Seines ..... ........ .... ........ .................. 
24 
2, 300 
430 
24 
2, 250 
505 
Grill nets ..... ...... 
13 
14 
Cast nets . .... 
8 
48 
8 
48 
Lines . T . T , r . , ^ . i 
2 
3 
Torip’a ..... ........ 
274 ' 
1, 734 
78, 474 
156, 650 
322 
1, 900 
93, 194 
SVmrfl prnpArt.y . ..... 
coni till _ . __ _ 
180, 550 
284, 760 
329, 632 
* Tonnage in 1887, 295.93 ; in 1888, 374.42. 
