Semi-weekly herald., 1912-12-19

over So,oOu,UuU IN capital OF which
Florida and Mississippi make up one
half. Their combined products amour;
to considerably over $1,000,000 in
value annually and are increasing al
the time the gain since 1897 being
over rs per cent in quantity and over
80 per cent in value. The greater
part of this increase has been due
to the development of the oyster in
dustry chiefly through the efforts and
cooperation of the bureau of fisheries
The west shore of Florida presents
a longer coast line than any other of
the states, it being 2,S10 miles in
length, indented with many bays,
sounds, and lagoons which furnish
good harborage for the light draft
fishing vessels. There are a large
number of rivers entering the gulf
but there is little commercial fishing
IN any of them excepting for stur-
eeon in the Apalachicola river.
The lack of shipping facilities has
been serious drawback The whole
sale dealers from Tampa, Cedar Key,
st. Petersburg and Punta Gorda have
for years operated fleet of trans
porting vessels which make regular
trips to the fishing camps carrying
supplies and bringing in the catch.
Now most of these vessels are equip
ped with refrigerating compartments
which store the fish and bring them
10 market in good condition. For
merly the fish were placed in the hold
of the vessel and ice scattered over
them, but the loss from spelling, on
account of the delays incident to high
winds and calms was so great as to
consume much of the profit. The con-
struction of railroad has now added
greatly to these shipping facilities
and large storage plant and fish fer
tilizer factory erected at Punta Gorda,
thirty miles from the mouth of the
Chail lotte harbor, provides for the
freezing of the better grade of fish as
well as the utilization of those which
have become non-edible. The west
coast of Florida leads all others in its
supply of blue fish, mullet, red snap
per, Spanish mackerel, pompano and
several others.
The gill net is the most important
apparatus in use. The line fishing is
noticeably falling off each year. The
st ne net is used but not to any ex-
tent. Before the Spanish war, thriv-
ing trade was done with Cuba in the
salted mullet industry. After that,
the trade in this fish declined for a
time but now is being revived, only
.iinstf;sd sceasi,.s .alted. il isf being
shipped away in ice and sold fresh.
In shipping mullet, an ordinary box
car is used having a partition across
ii at both sides of the doors to form
a compartment at each end of the car
Alternating layers of mullet and
cracked ice are placed in these en-
closures until the car contains load
of 24,000 pounds of fish.
The red snapper fishing still cen
ters at Pensacola although it is be-
coming important at Tampa as well
as at several other points. The stur-
geon and turtle fisheries are also in
creasing in value, while the sponge
fisheries constitute an industry which
is so far confined exclusively to Flo |
rida. There are several canning fac
tories located upon the western coast
of the state which put up oysters
and turtle principally, although the
preparation of surgeons eggs as
caviar is also profitable trade.
The chief fisheries of Alabama are
located in Mobile bay, Mississippi
sound and the Gulf of Mexico. Aside
from oysters, red snapper is the most
important product and this industry |
centers in Mobile bay. Snapper ves-
sells go east as far as Tampa and
west as far as Mexico. The banks
nearest to Mobile are about ten miles |
out. Snapper fishing is done in wa
ter from twenty to seventy-five faith
oms in depth. The crew consists of
from six to eight men, two men fish
ing from the vessel and the others
from dories carrying two men each.
This fishery is prosecuted during ev-
cry month of the year. An average
of three trips is made every two
months, the aim being not to keep the
fish longer than ten or twelve days
after they are caught. Lady fish is
the most used bait. On an average a
trip to the banks requires Sl5 worth
of bait and if successful the vessel
will return with from $500 to 5000
red snappers weighing from five to
thirty pounds each. The usual rate
of payment to the fishermen is about
3 1-2 cents pound for snappers
weighing seven pounds or under and
rs cents apiece for those weighing
more than seven pounds.
In Mississippi the shrimp industry
ranks next to oysters in the fish prod
ucts of the state. Most of the oyster
vessels engage in taking shrimps in
the spring and fall. April and May
and September and October being the
seasons. In the spring the shrimp
cor,ae in close tn the land and are