FISHERIES, BY STATES. 



125 



Products, by species. — Table 1, on page 126, shows 

 the fishery products of the state in 1908, by species 

 and by apparatus of capture. 



Products, by fishing grounds. — Over 95 per cent of 

 the value was from the Mississippi Eiver district. The 

 Missouri Eiver products, aggregating 143,000 pounds, 

 of a value of $9,300, are given in Table 2, on page 126, 

 by species and by apparatus of capture; and by de- 

 ducting the specific items from the corresponding 

 items in the general state table, the products in 

 detail of the Mississippi River district are readily 

 ascertainable. 



The distribution by districts of the chief products, 

 ranked according to value, is given in the following 

 tabular statement: 



Products, by apparatus of capture. — The following 

 tabular statement shows the distribution of the value 

 of products by waters and according to the kind of 

 apparatus used in making the catch: 



As shown by the table on page 126, seines were used 

 in the capture of every species of fish proper caught 

 in any of the waters of the state, with the exception of 

 eels, and the catch by seines represented 32 per cent 

 of the total value of all products caught. 



Trammel nets, with which fishery products aggre- 

 gating 21 per cent of the total value for the state were 

 caught, were also employed in taking a great number 

 of species; but the catch with crowfoot dredges, rank- 

 ing next and representing 20 per cent of the total 

 value, consisted exclusively of mussel products. 



Mussel products. — The comparison of the weight and 

 value of several general classes of the products of the 

 Iowa fisheries for 1894, 1899, and 1908, given in the 

 following tabular statement, is of special interest, as 

 showing the phenomenal growth of the mussel industry 

 between 1894 and 1899 and its rapid decline since: 



1 Includes frogs, turtles, and skins. 



In 1899, 10,000 tons of mussel shells were dredged 

 in the Iowa fisheries, while in 1894 only 74 tons were 

 reported. Since 1899, however, the beds appear to 

 have become gradually exhausted, and in 1908 only 

 2,300 tons were obtained. The value of the mussel 

 product, which in 1894 was only $2,100, or less than 

 2 per cent of the value of the fishery products of the 

 state, was $97,000 in 1899, or nearly 47 per cent of 

 the total of all products in that year. By 1908 the 

 value of the mussel shells had fallen to $44,000, or 

 20 per cent of the total value of fishery products. 

 Nevertheless, at the last canvass of the states having 

 fisheries along the Mississippi and its tributaries, 

 only three — Arkansas, Illinois, and Indiana — reported 

 a greater value of mussel-shell product than Iowa. 

 Among the fishery products of Iowa at that date the 

 value of the product of the mussel-shell industry was 

 exceeded only by that of the carp catch. 



Other leading products. — The German carp was the 

 leading variety of fish in 1908, the value of the. catch 

 forming 29 per cent of the total value of products 

 and being nearly twice as great as the value of the 

 species next in importance — catfish and bullheads. 

 From 1899 to 1908 the carp product increased from 

 1,039,000 pounds, valued at $23,000, to 2,048,000 

 pounds, valued at $62,000; that is, the product nearly 

 doubled in weight and nearly tripled in value. 



Catfish, buffalo fish, and fresh-water drum were 

 each reported in smaller quantities in 1908 than in 

 1899, but increases occurred in the quantity and value 

 of the suckers and black bass caught. The catch of 

 sturgeon, however, gained greatly between the two 

 canvasses, increasing from 44,000 pounds, valued at 

 $1,400, to 223,000 pounds, valued at $16,000. 



