130 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



Table 3.— KENTUCKY— FISHERY PRODUCTS OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER DISTRICT: 1908. 



1 Less than $100. 



LOUISIANA. 



Of the states bordering upon the Gulf of Mexico, 

 Louisiana in 1908 was second in the extent of her 

 fisheries, ranking next to Florida. In addition to the 

 Gulf fisheries Louisiana has fisheries along the Missis 

 sippi River and its tributaries, chief among which is the 

 Red River. A large local trade in fish and oysters 

 has its center at New Orleans, and there are in addition 

 small wholesale markets for fish at New Orleans and 

 Morgan City, and for oysters at Morgan City and 

 Houma. 



The following statement presents a summary of the 

 chief statistics for the state's fisheries in 1908: 



Number of persons employed 5, 795 



Capital: 



Vessels and boats, including outfit $794, 000 



Apparatus of capture 95,000 



Shore and accessory property and cash 40, 000 



Value of products 1, 569, 000 



Comparison with previous canvasses. — No statistics 

 concerning the fisheries of Louisiana for years previous 

 to 1908 apply to the entire state, but since the value 

 of the product of the Gulf fisheries constituted, in 1908, 

 92 per cent of the total value for the state, the statis- 

 tics compiled at different times for this branch of the 

 state's fisheries represent fairly the development in the 

 state as a whole. 



The following tabular statement gives a compara- 

 tive summary of the principal statistics of the fisheries 

 of the Gulf district of Louisiana for the canvasses of 

 1890, 1897, and 1908, and those of the Mississippi 

 River district of the state for 1899 and 1908: 



1 The figures are below normal, owing to quarantine. 



In Louisiana, as in other states bordering on this 

 body of water, the fisheries of the Gulf of Mexico show 

 an increase in recent years in each of the items covered 

 by the tabular statement, with the exception that in 

 1897, owing to the fact that a quarantine was in force 

 for a large part of the year, fishing operations were 

 curtailed and the capital and quantity of product 

 reported were less than in 1890. In the Mississippi 

 River fisheries the amount of capital invested in equip- 

 ment increased 365 per cent between 1899 and 1908, 

 and in each of the other items there was an increase 

 of more than 86 per cent. In the Gulf district the 

 gain in quantity of product has been much greater 

 than the gain in value; in the Mississippi River dis- 

 trict quantity has increased but very little faster than 

 value. 



Persons employed. — The statistics of the persons em- 

 ployed in the Louisiana fisheries in 1908 are as fol- 

 lows: 



