COMMON FISHES OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER 
173 
of eels can be found each year, it would be desirable to collect the small eels and trans- 
fer them to the waters above, so that they might continue in migration. 
If the dam at Keokuk is an effective barrier, as we suppose, eels should in time 
cease to be found in Minnesota and Wisconsin and in Iowa, except in the Des Moines 
and Missouri River systems, and in Illinois in a little more than one-third of the Missis- 
sippi bordering Illinois and the tributaries of that portion. 
Unfortunately, it appears that future statistics of the eel fishery will be of little 
significance with reference to the effect of the dam, for the reason that the eel is 
evidently rapidly and steadily disappearing from the whole basin. This is a fact 
that arrests our attention, particularly because it can not be attributed to any obvious 
cause. The fishery for eels has been so small that we can hardly suppose it to have 
had a material effect. The steady decline of the eel fishery in the Mississippi and 
tributaries is indicated in the following table : 
Table 4. — Eels taken in the fisheries of the Mississippi River and tributaries for various years 
Year 
Pounds 1 
Percentage 
of decrease 
Period since 
last survey, 
years 
Year 
Pounds 1 
Percentage 
of decrease 
Period since 
last survey, 
years 
1894 
133, 223 
1908 
61, 000 
17.8 
5 
1899 
93, 905 
29.5 
5 
1922 
10, 060 
73.7 
14 
1903 
74, 210 
29.7 
4 
1 Figures from Sette (1925, p. 211). 
The decline in catch is so regular and has extended so far that one might suppose 
that the next two or three decades would witness the complete disappearance of eels 
from the basin. 
SUMMARY 
The eel is stopped in upward migration by the dam at Keokuk and must virtually 
disappear from the river and its tributaries above the dam. However, the eel has 
never been of commercial importance in the upper part of the basin. Furthermore, 
for at least 30 years the eel has been steadily disappearing from the whole basin, so 
that without a change of trend it will soon cease to count as a natural resource of the 
region. 14 There is suggested the possibility of rescuing young eels collected at the 
base of the dam and passing them over in baskets. 
THE CATFISHES (Siluridae) 
The catfishes rank next to the buffalo fishes and carp in commercial importance. 
In 1922 the product from the Mississippi Basin alone (Atchafalaya River included) 
was valued at nearly $750,000. Of about half a dozen species found at and near 
Keokuk three were present in substantial numbers. One or more of the bullheads 
(Ameiurus) are probably abundant in quiet waters but are uncommon in the river. 
As with the buffalo fishes, all kinds of catfishes are lumped together in statistical 
reports, so that it is impossible to apply the returns in the consideration of individual 
species. We may first see, however, what has been the general trend of the fishery 
during the past 30 years, as shown by the figures assembled by Sette (1925, p. 209), 
h For possible future reference it may be recorded that during the four months from May to August, inclusive, 1916, there were 
handled by the markets at Burlington about 125 eels and by the markets at Fort Madison (principally in June) about 700 eels. 
Only one or two dozen were handled by dealers at Warsaw, 111., and Alexandria, Mo., during the three summer months of 1916. 
