FISHERIES OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC STATES. 
355 
The sturgeon fishery . — The most noticeable decline in the river fisheries of the 
South Atlantic States during the past decade has been in the sturgeon fishery. In 
1880 the aggregate catch in this region was 2,209,150 pounds, gross weight, valued at 
$58,099, including the caviare prepared by the fishermen. The yield in 18S9 was 
767,382 pounds, valued at $16,082, and in 1890 the output was still further reduced to 
504,799 pounds, worth $12,974, notwithstanding the large increase in the fishing popu- 
lation. The principal waters in which the sturgeon is uoav taken are Albemarle 
Sound, Winyah Bay, and the Savannah River. The largest catch is made in the Albe- 
marle region, where, as shown in the tables, 128,097 pounds, gross weight, were 
obtained in 1889, and 118,085 pounds in 1890, the value being $3,742 and $3,467, 
respectively. In 1880 over 900,000 pounds were credited to this section, for which the 
fishermen received more than $18,000. The most valuable sturgeon fishery in 1880 
was that prosecuted in the Savannah River; the yield was 720,000 pounds, with a 
value, including the caviare, of $24,780. The supply of sturgeon in the Savannah 
River, like that of shad, has greatly declined and is steadily growing less, as shown 
by the figures, even the difference between two successive years being marked. 
The decrease of 80 per cent in the yield of sturgeon during the past ten years 
argues very unfavorably for the continuance of the fishery, and there is reason to 
believe that the record at the end of the next decade will disclose a practical absence 
of this valuable resource from the fisheries of the South Atlantic States. 
The alewife fishery . — Although all the coast rivers of this region are included 
within the range of the alewives ( Clupea pseudoharengus and C. ( vstivalis ), the fish are 
not abundant south of North Carolina, in which State more than 99 per cent of the 
catch in the South Atlantic States is taken. In addition to the Albemarle Basin, which 
supports a more extensive alewife fishery than any other body of water in the country, 
considerable quantities of these fish are obtained in the Pamlico and Neuse rivers. 
In 1880 the total catch of alewives was 16,055,000 pounds, valued at $155,734. 
The tables indicate that the variation since that time, as disclosed by the figures for 
1889 and 1890, has been slight, the yield in 1S89 being somewhat less and that in 1890 
a little greater than in 1880. The quantity and value of the alewife fishery of South 
Carolina, Georgia, and Florida have decreased; in North Carolina the value of the 
catch in 1889 and 1890 was greater than in 1880, and the quantity of fish taken in 
1890 was considerably larger. 
