560 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
barrels of mullet were secured and shipped by vessel to New Orleans, no returns ever being re- 
ceived for them. At this time the customs officer of Pensacola took the vessel’s :papers—regular 
fishing papers issued at Gloucester—claiming that they did not grant the privilege of fishing for 
mullet. These papers were kept for about two months, and when returned the fishing season was 
over, so that the vessel was obliged to set sail for the North, with nothing to show for her voyage. 
The Yorktown had secured 16 barrels of fish, when her captain, hearing of the action of the cus- 
toms officers in regard to the Nautilus, was afraid to continue the work.” Mr. Stewart further 
adds that there were no commercial fisheries on the coast at that time, nor had there been much 
fishing for any purpose except by the Indians. He says: “The winter fishing fleet of Apalachicola 
consisted of two small boats, manned by four resident fishermen.” There were certain places, 
however, in Eastern Florida where the mullet fisheries were of considerable importance, and par- 
ties at the mouth of the Saint John’s River and elsewhere were engaged in drying and salting the 
species for shipment to the West Indies. 
3. FISHING GROUNDS. 
Owing to the peculiar habit of the mullet of following the shore in their migrations, it may be 
said that the fishing grounds extend without interruption throughout the entire range of the 
Atlantic species, with a limited fishery for the Mf. mexicana at San Diego, Cal. The fish are present 
in all bays and coves along the outer beach from Sandy Hook, N. J., to Mexico. From North 
Carolina to Mississippi they are peculiarly abundant, and within these limits they could undoubt- 
edly be taken at almost any point, in case suitable apparatus was used, during the proper season. 
There are, however, certain regions or stretches of coast which, owing to their physical character- 
istics, are the natural feeding and spawning grounds of large schools of mullet, and when these 
chance to be near settled districts the fisheries are always developed to a greater or less extent. 
When in addition the region has rail or steamboat communications with the larger markets, or 
when it is tributary to a thickly-settled agricultural region, the fishing becomes extensive, and 
many persons devote their entire attention to the fishing for several months. 
In New Jersey there are no important mullet grounds, though about Sandy Hook limited 
quantities of small fish and “bull-mullet” are taken for home use and for shipment. A few are 
taken at various points between Long Island Sound and Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, the latter 
being the most northern fishing ground of importance on the coast. 
The fish are found in the mouths of all the rivers of Pamlico Sound, and indeed they often 
ascend well up into fresh water. They are not uncommonly seen a few miles above New Berne, 
on the Neuse. They are often taken at Blount’s Creek, 8 miles below Washington, in the Tar, 
and occasionally at Leedville, at the head of naviyation on the Pungo River. They are also found 
in considerable numbers along “The Banks” as far north as Oregon Inlet. The waters above this 
point are usually quite fresh, and no large mullet enter them; but the young are seen in the lower 
portions of both Albemarle and Currituck Sounds, while specimens are occasionally taken at 
Edenton and Poplar Branch, near the head of these respective waters. The fishing for the species 
is wholly to the southward of Roanoke Island. Oregon Inlet is thus practically the northern limit 
of mullet fishing for profit in the United States. All portions of the coast between Ocracoke Inlet 
and Little River, the southern boundary of the State, are visited by numerous fishing crews, who 
spend several monfhs each fall in catching mullet, which they salt for shipment to the interior. 
Some crews have no regular fishing station, but move about from day to day, hauling their seines 
at any point along the inner channels or on the outer beach, where the fish chance to be most 
abundant. Along certain portions of the coast, however, especially in the waters of Core and 
