156 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
fishing population. The principal nationalities represented by this foreign element 
are Italian, Austrian, Malay, French, and Spanish. The number of colored American 
fishermen is 423, or about one-fifth the total number of citizens. 
The fishery investment of this State was $700,557 in 1SS9, and $719,876 in 1890. 
The 119 vessels employed in 1890 were valued with their outfits at $93,527, exclusive 
of apparatus of capture. The value of the 2,578 boats used in the shore fisheries was 
$161,533. The seine is the principal form of apparatus; 168 seines were operated 
in 1890, worth $14,600. Lines were the next valuable means of capture; these were 
specially important in the shore fisheries, and almost insignificant in the vessel 
fisheries; $9,176 was invested in lines ofvarious kinds. Dip nets and cast nets were 
extensively used, but had a less value than the tongs. The capital invested in shore 
property and the shore industries was $425,678, or more than half the total amount 
devoted to the fisheries. 
The yield of the fisheries in 1889 was 20,947,239 pounds, valued at $621,048, and 
in 1890, 20,789,203 pounds, valued at $660,134. The diminished quantity in 1890 was 
due to a decline in the shrimp fishery, and the increased value of products depended 
on an augmented yield of oysters. The most important products and their values in 
1890 were as follows: Oysters, $299,896; shrimp, $90,519; catfish, $54,726; trout, 
$33,026; sheepshead, $25,906; buffalo-fish, $22,940. The alligator industry, which is 
not included in the tables, yielded $20,150. Louisiana is the only Gulf State having 
a commercial fishery for crayfish; the value of this in 1890 was $7,030, a sum rep- 
resenting 140,650 pounds of these crustaceans. 
The four tables which follow contain condensed figures giving the extent of the 
fisheries of this State in 1889 and 1890 : 
54. — Table of persons employed. 
How engaged. 
Number. 
1889. 
1890. 
324 
17 
3,175 
450 
317 
15 
3, 270 
400 
On transporting A'essels 
Total 
3,960 
4, 068 
55. — Table showing the nationality of persons engaged in the fisheries of Louisiana in 1885 and 1890 . 
Nationalities. 
Vessel fishermen. 
Shore fishermen. 
Shoresmen. 
Total. 
1889. 
1890. 
1889. 
1890. 
1889. 
1890. 
1889. 
1890. 
Americans, white 
228 
223 
1,900 
1,943 
171 
180 
2. 299 
2, 346 
Americans, colored 
15 
14 
326 
327 
76 
82 
417 
423 
85 
91 
45 
41 
130 
132 
Italians 
45 
45 
316 
320 
64 
62 
425 
427 
Austrians 
32 
30 
200 
202 
22 
25 
254 
257 
78 
111 
27 
25 
105 
136 
10 
12 
10 
12 
30 
30 
30 
30 
160 
165 
160 
165 
Others 
21 
20 
100 
105 
15 
15 
136 
140 
Total 
341 
332 
3, 175 
3,276 
450 
460 
3, 966 
4, 068 
