94 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
fishing industry of the coastal waters of this interesting region was undertaken in the 
early part of 1891, and covered a period of about three months. The inquiry embraced 
every phase of the commercial fisheries, including the history, methods, relations, and 
statistics, and was conducted by the following field agents of the Commission: W. H. 
Abbott, Ansley Hall, Edward E. Race, and Charles H. Stevenson. The fishermen, 
fish-dealers, and canners, and the general business public of this region evinced a 
lively interest in the work, and extended every facility to aid the canvass of the field 
agents. 
Scope of the report , — In this paper it is intended to present a statistical review of 
the commercial coast fisheries of the States bordering on the Gidf of Mexico. The 
descriptive matter is intentionally brief, and consists for the most part simply of a dis- 
cussion of the tables. In the introductory portion of the report the States are consid- 
ered in relation to each other and to the region as a whole; while the chapters which 
relate to the separate States give detailed accounts of the various phases of the fish- 
eries. The figures in the general tables show the condition of the fisheries in 1890; 
the statistics under each State are for two years, 1889 and 1890, and are therefore valu- 
able because of the comparisons permitted. 
The report treats of the fisheries of only the Gulf coast of Florida, but in the 
special chapter on that State condensed figures are given for the east coast. 
It is the intention of the Fish Commission to publish, from time to time, separate 
papers dealing with the fisheries of each of the Gulf States. The absence of full in- 
formation on the development, methods, relations, etc., of these fisheries is very appar- 
ent and must necessarily delay the advancement of the industry. The fisheries of no 
other section of the United States have received less attention and are so little under- 
stood, and it is thought that detailed reports of their present condition and extent, 
the advantages they offer to capitalists, and the possibilities for their improvement 
will greatly enhance their importance. 
The hunting of alligators constitutes an important fishery enterprise in some of 
the States of this region, notably Florida and Louisiana. As much the larger num- 
ber of animals are killed at points distant from the coast, usually in more or less 
inaccessible regions, no complete investigation of this branch was made. The sta- 
tistics obtained relate only to the region on or immediately adjacent to the coast, and 
are not included in the regular tables, but are given in the form of footnotes under 
each State. 
The fishermen . — A large number of nationalities are represented among the fisher- 
men of the Gulf States. There is no section of the eastern United States in which 
so many unnaturalized persons are found in the fisheries. More foreign fishermen are 
credited to Louisiana than to any other State; here nearly one- third of the fishing 
population is made up of aliens, chiefly Italians, Austrians, Malays, Spaniards, and 
French. In the number of foreign fishermen Florida ranks next to Louisiana, ha ving 
only a few less; the British provincial element predominates, a large number of 
both white and colored persons from the Bahama and other British islands being 
represented; Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese, Norwegians, and Greeks also occur in 
considerable numbers, the non-naturalized fishermen being between one-fourth and 
one-third the fishing population. The remaining States have only a small number of 
foreign fishermen, who are chiefly from the countries of southern Europe, Spain 
