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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
VI.— FISHERIES OF TEXAS. 
Geography of the coast. — Tlie coast of Texas presents features differing from any 
other of the Gulf States. Almost throughout its entire length it is bordered by a 
series of low, sandy islands and peninsulas, the Gulf side of which forms a very 
regular shore line, which, beginning at Sabine Lake, extends in a southwesterly 
direction to Corpus Christi, and thence in a southerly direction to the Rio Grande. 
Numerous bays occur between the mainland and the islands, the most important 
being Galveston, Matagorda, Espiritu Santo, Aransas, Corpus Christi, and Laguna 
Madre. The approximate length of the coast line of the State, including the inden- 
tations, is 2,010 miles. Besides the Sabine and Rio Grande, which streams form the 
coastal boundaries of the State, there are other important rivers which enter the 
Gulf of Mexico on the shores of Texas. The largest of these are the Neelies, Trinity, 
Brazos, Colorado, Guadalupe, and Nueces. 
The principal cities and towns along the coast are Sabine City, Galveston, Mata- 
gorda, Saluria, Port Lavaca, Rockport, and Corpus Christi. The islands and penin- 
sulas which skirt the shores are, as a rule, unpopulated, the only noticeable exceptions 
being Galveston Island, on which the city of Galveston is located, and Bolivar 
Peninsula, which contains a few hundred people. On the shores of all the bays 
there are a few settlements of cattle-raisers, fishermen, etc., but it is only in Galves- 
ton, Matagorda, Aransas, and Corpus Christi bays that the population is large enough 
and the transportation facilities sufficiently good to support important fisheries. 
Importance of the Texas fisheries . — The rank of Texas among the Gulf States is 
fourth in the item of persons engaged, fourth in the amount of capital invested, 
and third in the value of the products. As shown in Section I of this report, the 
development of the fishing industry in this State since 1880 has been phenomenally 
large, the number of fishermen and shoresmen having increased 112.48 per cent, the 
capital 652.G5 per cent, and the value of the catch 143.05 per cent. 
The only fishery products which are of actual or relative importance are three 
fish (trout, redfish, and sheepshead) and oysters, the value of which is more than 
four-fifths the total yield of the State. The fisheries for these and other species are 
capable of great development, as the natural fishery resources of the Texas coast are 
fully as favorable as those of any other Gulf State. The possibilities of the region 
for oyster-production and oyster-culture are beyond present calculation. The chief 
disadvantages with which the fishing interests now contend are the poor facilities for 
transportation. 
Condensed statistics. — Four tables are first presented, which show, in a general 
way, the extent of the commercial fisheries of the coastal waters in 1889 and 1890. 
From the first table it will be seen that 1,277 persons found employment in con- 
nection with the fisheries in 1890, of whom 84 were engaged on vessels, 1,032 in the 
boat or shore fisheries, and 161 in the shore industries related to or dependent on the 
fishing business. 
The different nationalities represented in the Texas fisheries are sliown in Table 
68. The great preponderance of white Americans is noteworthy, and strongly con- 
trasts with Louisiana. The number of colored fishermen is small as compared with 
other States of this section. The largest foreign element is from the countries of 
southern Europe, chiefly Italy, Spain, and Portugal. 
