246 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



Persons employed. — The following tabular statement 

 gives the distribution of the persons employed in the 

 fisheries of Texas in 1908, and of the wages and sal- 

 aries paid: 



1 Exclusive of two proprietors not fishing. 



2 Includes provisions furnished to the value of S41,000. 



3 Includes three persons employed on a vessel engaged in transporting. 



Of the shoresmen, 37 were employed in the vessel 

 fisheries and the remaining 23 in the shore and boat 

 fisheries. The total number of persons connected 

 with the vessel fisheries, therefore, was 444, and the 

 total number connected with the shore and boat fish- 

 eries 1,336. It is apparent that in the shore and boat 

 fisheries more than one-half of those classed as "Pro- 

 prietors and independent fishermen" were independent 

 fishermen. 



Equipment and other capital. — In the following tab- 

 ular statement statistics are given as to the equipment 

 and the other capital employed in the fisheries of 

 Texas: 



1 Includes one vessel of six tons engaged in transporting. 



Of the total investment in the Texas fisheries, the 

 value of the various kinds of craft, including the out- 

 fits, formed 85 per cent, and of this portion over two- 

 thirds represented the value of vessels. The value 

 of the apparatus of capture used in the shore and boat 

 fisheries was nearly five times as great as that of the 

 apparatus used in the vessel fisheries. Of the invest- 

 ment in shore and accessory property, $4,000 was 

 reported for the vessel fisheries and $3,500 for the 



shore and boat fisheries, while practically all the cash 

 was reported for the vessel fisheries. The total invest- 

 ment in the shore and boat fisheries was $155,000, and 

 that in the vessel fisheries $299,000. Nets and seines 

 were the most important form of apparatus. The 

 numbers of the more important kinds of apparatus 

 reported, all of which, with the exception of 38 seines, 

 were used in the shore and boat fisheries, were as fol- 

 lows: 



Cast nets 332 



Dip nets 69 



Firearms, guns, etc . . - 137 



Fyke nets 455 



Gill nets 219 



Mink traps 30 



Seines 298 



19 



1 



Trammel nets . 

 Turtle nets. . . 



Products, by species. — Table 1, on page 249, gives the 

 fishery products of the state, by species and by appa- 

 ratus of capture. A large variety of species are 

 represented in the catch of this state, chief among 

 which are oysters, red snapper, squeteague, and chan- 

 nel bass, or redfish. These products together con- 

 tributed 75 per cent of the value of all fishery products 

 taken in the state, oysters alone representing 38 per 

 cent of the value. The only species in the catch of 

 which Texas led all other states was jewfish. 



Products, by class of fisheries. — Table 2, on page 250, 

 gives the products of the vessel fisheries, by species 

 and by apparatus of capture, while Table 3, on page 

 250, gives similar statistics for the shore and boat 

 fisheries. The following tabular statement gives the 

 distribution, by species, of the total value of products 

 for the fisheries of the state as a whole and for each 

 class of fisheries. Only products for which a total 

 value in excess of $5,000 was reported are shown 

 separately. 



Total. 



Fish 



Red snapper 



Squeteague 



Channel bass, or redfish . 



Catfish 



Sheepshead 



Pike 



Drum, salt-water 



Buffalo fish 



Croaker 



Flounders 



All other 



Oysters, market 



All other 



VALUE OF PEODUCTS: 1908. 



Total. 



5446,000 



265,000 



79,000 



46,000 



43,000 



26,000 



14,000 



11,000 



9,300 



7,400 



7,000 



6,600 



15,000 



107,000 



14, 000 



Vessel 

 fisheries. 



8161,000 



97,000 



79,000 



5,400 



5,300 



600 



2,200 



700 



1,200 



100 



800 



800 



1,200 



62,000 



1,400 



Shore and 



boat 

 fisheries. 



5285,000 



168,000 



41,000 



38,000 



26,000 



12,000 



10,000 



8,100 



7,400 



6,200 



5,800 



14,000 



105,000 



13,000 



The vessel fisheries took products which represented 

 36 per cent of the value and a slightly larger percent- 

 age of the weight of the total fishery product. The 

 red snapper ranked first in value among the products 

 of the vessel fisheries, its value forming 49 per cent 



