132 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



this product. Oysters represented more than one- 

 half its weight and about half its value. Ranked 

 according to value of product, shrimp, catfish, sque- 

 teague, and mink skins followed, in the order named, 

 and together with oysters amounted to 39,662,000 

 pounds, valued at $1,277,000, or 86 per cent of the 

 total weight and 81 per cent of the total value. In 

 1897 the four species of fish named were -in the lead, 

 and contributed about 80 per cent of the total weight 

 and 83 per cent of the total value. Mink skins were 

 not reported at the canvass of 1897. 



Products, by fishing grounds. — Table 2, on page 136, 

 gives, by species and apparatus of capture, the weight 

 and value of the products of the Louisiana fisheries 

 in the Gulf of Mexico. Of the forty-odd species taken in 

 Louisiana fisheries, 27 were reported exclusively from 

 the Gulf of Mexico district. The value of the entire 

 product of this district was $1,448,000, while the 

 value reported for these 27 species was $1,115,000. 

 Among the latter the oysters, as would be expected, 

 were the most important, having a value of $763,000. 

 The next in value of the products reported only for the 

 Gulf fisheries were squeteague and mink skins, valued 

 at $82,000 and $77,000, respectively; while other im- 

 portant products were salt-water drum (channel bass) , 

 croakers, soft crabs, and terrapin, valued at $39,000, 

 $28,000, $21,000, and $21,000, respectively. 



The product reported by the fisheries of the Missis- 

 sippi River and its tributaries, all of which are of the 

 shore and boat class, had about one-eleventh the 

 weight and one-twelfth the value of that reported for 

 the Gulf district. The distribution of the products 

 of these fisheries is shown in Table 3, on page 136. 

 Fifteen species comprised the river product, five of 

 which — carp, crappie, eels, pike perch (wall-eyed) , and 

 suckers — were not found in the Gulf product. Catfish, 

 buffalo fish, and shrimp, in the order named, were the 

 most valuable species in the products of this district, 

 furnishing a little more than three-fourths of both the 

 weight and the value of the catch. Catfish and buffalo 

 fish headed the list in 1899 also, together representing 

 at that time three-fourths of the weight and two-thirds 

 of the value of the products from the district. 



The value of the different products reported for 

 1908, arranged in the order of importance, is shown 

 in the next tabular statement for the state as a 

 whole and for the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi River 

 districts. 



Of the species reported for both the Gulf and the 

 river fisheries, shrimp and catfish were the most val- 

 uable. The shrimp product reported by the Gulf 

 district was valued at $196,000 and the river product 

 at only about one-twelfth as much, $17,000; the cat- 

 fish product of the Gulf district was valued at $89,000 

 and the river product at $54,000. The total value of 

 the other species common to both districts, including 



caviar, was $90,000, of which the Gulf fisheries con- 

 tributed $47,000 and the river fisheries $43,000. In 

 the case of three species — namely, black bass, fresh- 

 water drum, and paddlefish — the greater value came 

 from the Mississippi River district, while in the case 

 of the four remaining species — bream, buffalo fish, 

 crawfish, and turtles — the product of the Gulf dis- 

 trict represented the greater value. 



Total 



Fish 



Catfish 



Squeteague 



Buffalo 



Drum (salt-water), or channel 



Croaker 



Sheepshead 



Drum, fresh-water 



All other 



O ysters 



Shrimp 



Skins — mink, muskrat, and otter. 



Crabs, soft 



Terrapin 



Hides, alligator 



All other 



value OF products: 1908. 



Total. 



$1,569,000 



419,000 

 143,000 

 82,000 

 50,000 

 39,000 

 28,000 

 18,000 

 15,000 

 45,000 

 763,000 

 213,000 

 98,000 

 21,000 

 21,000 

 11,000 

 24,000 



Gulf of 

 Mexico 

 district. 



$1,448,000 



316,000 

 89,000 

 82,000 

 28,000 

 39,000 

 28,000 

 18,000 

 6,900 

 26,000 

 763,000 

 196,000 

 98,000 

 21,000 

 21,000 

 11,000 

 22,000 



River 

 district. 



$121,000 



103,000 

 54,000 



22,000 



8,400 

 19,000 



17,000 



1,700 



Products, oy class of fisheries. — The products of the 

 vessel fisheries of Louisiana are shown in Table 4, on 

 page 137, by species and by apparatus of capture. 

 These fisheries, all of which are in the Gulf of Mexico, 

 are of small proportions, their products representing 

 only 15 per cent of the total weight and 11 per cent of 

 the total value for the state. Of the product of the 

 vessel fisheries, oysters contributed 92 per cent in 

 weight and 84 per cent in value; the remainder com- 

 prised 18 species, all of which were taken in the 

 shore and boat fisheries of the Gulf. Shore and boat 

 fisheries were common to both the Gulf of Mexico and 

 the Mississippi River districts. This class of fisheries 

 formed the most important branch not only of the 

 Gulf fisheries but also of the fisheries of the state 

 as a whole, furnishing a total product of 39,344,000 

 pounds, valued at $1,395,000, or nearly six times 

 the quantity and over eight times the value of the 

 product of the vessel fisheries. Statistics as to the 

 products of the shore and boat fisheries of the Gulf 

 fishing grounds are given in Table 5, on page 137. 

 Seventy-seven per cent of the total weight and 81 

 per cent of the total value of the products of the 

 Louisiana fisheries came from the shore and boat 

 fisheries of the Gulf district. Hence the leading 

 species for this district were the same as those in the 

 fisheries of the entire state. All the skins included 

 in the state product were from the shore and boat 

 fisheries of the Gulf district. 



The following tabular statement shows the dis- 

 tribution, by species, of the value of products between 

 the vessel fisheries and the shore and boat fisheries: 



