Evening journal., 1906-08-03

the mems food suppiyY' I ask the cap.
tain.
They do not eat ASH" he replies.
Ihen remember that the little ash
camp is hlled with canned meats. iams
and other rntions put mp in the inland
towns. II is not surprising that, living
In an atmosphere OF ash, they should
choose other diet.
The fsherman's life is hard. but BY no
means 80 unpleasant as might at nrst
seem. To begin with. he is almost his
own master. He fishes on shares. one
third the value Of the catch goes 70 the
captain, who Is the owner Of the boats.
nets, etc. The remainder Is divided
equally among all. A fisherman works
about half the week. according to the
tides He averages S25 to s35 a month
In addition to his board. But there are
prizes In this following which impart the
element OF chance. One day last fall i2O,-
900 pounds OF nsh were loaded into nine
large vessels inside OF six hours Each
man received 800 as the result OF that
days work. During last fall the waters
yielded more than they had ever done
before. In s3 days $1,000 was divided
among the captain and 10 men. Each
man made over $3.50 during that month.
But the money went almost as quickly az
It arrived. Except for the few who have
families, sailormen are notoriously I'M
provldent, and the sea with its teemlng
hordes is always at their beck and call.
The following prices rule In general for
fish: For bottom Ash-that is to say,
sheepshead. reddish. founders, groupef
and such kinds. the fishers receive two
cents q pound. Mullet brings IN one and
one fourth cents. trout and buehsh three
cents. mackerel Eve. pompano from I've
TO ten.
The fishing season lasts practically the
entire year. During the six weeks end
ing on January 1 mullet fishing is illegal,
as that period covers the spawning sea.
son. The mackerel, too, are not In evil
dence until the warm weather Of the end
OF March drives them up with the tides.
But for the latter nine months Of ths
year fishing is continual. During the fall
enormous hauls are made.
But there are drawbacks. Boats loaded
with fsh have been known TO sink. and
there is more than one record OF school
Of sharks attacking the nets from out
side Just as the fishermen were hauling
them in. breaking them into pieces aud
destroying or releasing the haul.
The man who uses the stop net looks
upon the gill-netter much as the cattle
man Of the plains regards the sheep far
mer gill net Is a net with four-inch
meshes instead OF the three-inch mesh
OF the stop net. II Is so called because
the fish, dartlng their heads against It,
remain caught by the gills and ara
unable to escape.
"a cheap way Of fishing. and one cali
culated 10 run of the FISH," says the
captain with contempt. with stop nets
four-hfths Of the fish are captured, but
the gill nets do not hold One-tenth. All
they do Is to scare the hsh into other
parts"
The advantages OF Eili-netting. however.
are that It does not require 30 great an
expenditure nor so large a crew. As a
rule, three or more boats engage In gill
netting. Sometimes one man In a single
boat viii take out his gill net and return
loaded with hsh. Havi1g located school
Of mullet or other nsh, he throws out his
net and poles around till he has encircled
them.
The nshhouse at st. Petersburg. views
Of which are shown IN the Illustrations,
IS the distributing center OF an enormous
business. mostly IN Georgia, Alabama and
South Carolina. In addition 10 the nine
or ten boats plying between Tampa Bay
and Johns Pass there are also plying
Sboats engaged in the red snapper trade.
This hsh. which plays prominent part
IN the famous New Orleans dish known
as bouillnbaisse, Is very large and Of q
brilliant red. II inhabits certain grounds
far ont In the 1uif Of MQxfrn and In
caught only with a hook and lice. The
snapper boats leave ST. Petersburg every
week. returning IN IL or q days loaded
With this delicacy. About 10000 TO 10000
pounds constitute a shipload. From this
one center four or ave carloads Of FISH are
dispatched In ice every week, mostly con.
sisting OF mullet. Each carload contains
from 24,0o0 to $1,000 pounds.
VICTOR ROUSSEAU.