3 -REPORT ON THE FISHERIES OF THE GULF STATES. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
The following report upon the fisheries of the Gulf States, prepared in the Division 
of Fisheries of the U. S. Fish Commission, will, it is believed, prove acceptable and 
instructive to all directly or indirectly interested in the fishery resources of the Gulf 
of Mexico. 
The value of the fishery products of this region is at present small when compared 
with the great fisheries of the New England States, where experience and enterprise, 
combined with intelligent and systematic methods, have greatly developed the re- 
sources of the waters. This report discloses, however, great possibilities of future 
production in the waters of our southern borders, and shows that large additions can 
be made to the wealth of this region by industry and enterprise, so that we may well 
hope the time is not far remote when these fisheries will command the attention they 
deserve. The inquiry prosecuted has been addressed to every phase of the commer- 
cial fisheries of the Gulf States, covering their methods and relations as well as the 
statistics of their production and value. As this report is general in character and 
covers the entire Gulf region, the information conveyed lias in some particulars 
necessarily been restricted. It is the intention of the Commission, however, to publish, 
from time to time, papers dealing with the fisheries of each of the States, which will 
give more in detail their condition and extent, the possibilities for their improvement, 
and the advantages they offer to capitalists by their systematic prosecution. 
The preparation and form of presentation of this report have 1 >een under the general 
direction of Mr. J. W. Collins, assistant in charge of the Division of Fisheries, aided 
by Dr. Hugh M. Smith, principal assistant, by whom the explanations and discussions 
of the tables have been mainly made. The data on which the report is based were 
chiefly collected by Messrs. W. H. Abbott, Ansley Hall, Edward E. Race, and C. H. 
Stevenson, field agents of the division. 
Marshall McDonald, 
Commissioner. 
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