As to individual species, the oyster fishery yields the largest value — $15,713,000, or 29 per cent of the total value; salmon is second in value, yielding $3,347,000, or 6 per cent; cod is third, $2,914,000, or 5 per cent; then follow shad, $2,113,000 (4 per cent) • lobster, $1,931,000 (4 per cent) . • clams, $1,896,000 (4 per cent) ; squeteague (weakfish), $1,776,000 (3 per cent) • halibut, $1,562,000 (3 per cent); haddock, $1,308,000 (2 per cent); German carp, $1,135,000 (2 per cent).
In the order of weight the catches were: menhaden, 394,776,000 pounds; oysters allow ing 7 pounds of meat to the bushel, 233,309,000 pounds; herring, 125,050,000 pounds; cod, 110, 054,000 pounds; salmon, 90,417,000 pounds; alewives (river herring), 89,978,000 pounds; haddock, 59,987,000 pounds; crabs, 52,913,000 pounds; squeteague, 49,869,000 pounds; Ger man carp, 42,763,000 pounds; lake herring, 41, 118,000 pounds; halibut, 34,441,000 pounds; hake, 34,340,000 pounds; mullet, 33,703,000 pounds; pollock, 29,462,000 pounds; shad, 27, 641,000; flounders, 23,346,000 pounds; shrimp and prawn, 19,080,000 pounds; catfish, 17,817,000 pounds; buffalo fish, 16,729,000 pounds; pike perch, 15,247,000 pounds; red snapper, 13,498, MO pounds; mackerel, 12,103,000 pounds; lake trout, 12,024,000 pounds; mussels, 8,543,000 pounds; scup, 8,414,000 pounds; suckers, 8,199, 000 pounds; yellow perch, 7,898,000; whitefish, 7,708,000 pounds. The above named fishes con stitute 97 per cent of the entire catch of the country.
The distribution of the several species of food fish, regarded commercially, is as follows: Alewives are caught in Virginia and Maryland; black bass in Florida and Illinois; bluefish in New York and New Jersey; carp in Illinois and Ohio; catfish in Louisiana; cod in Massachusetts and Maine; eels in New York and Massachusetts; flounders in Massachusetts, California and New York; haddock in Massa chusetts and Maine; halibut in Washington; herring in Maine; mackerel in Massachusetts; mullet in Florida; pike perch in Ohio; pollock in Massachusetts; salmon in Washington, Ore gon and California; sardines in California; sea bass in New Jersey; shad in Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey and Florida; squeteague in New York and North Carolina; whitefish in Michigan; crabs in Virginia and Maryland; lobsters in Maine; oysters in Mary land, Virginia, Connecticut, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and South Carolina, in the order named.
The Fisheries Bureau divides the country for supervisory and statistical purposes into five : these, with the several amounts of their catch, and percentages of the whole catch for the year 1908, are as follows: Atlantic Coast Division, 1,344,655,000 pounds; 71 per cent. Gulf of Mexico Division 117 723 : • 000 pounds; 6 per cent. Pacific Coast Division 176,150,000 pounds; 10 per cent. Mississippi River Division, 148,284,000 pounds; 8 per cent. Great Lakes Division, 106,632,000 pounds; 5 per cent.
The relative importance of the fisheries in the several States may be gauged by the values of their individual catches (in 1908) as fol lows: Massachusetts, $7,095,000; chiefly cod, had dock and mackerel, with herring, pollock and halibut of less importance.
Virginia, $4,716,000; chiefly oysters, with shad, menhaden, clams and crabs secondary.
New York, $4,594,000; chiefly oysters, with squeteague, bluefish, flounders and clams secondary.
Washington, $3,513,000; chiefly salmon and halibut, with oysters secondary.
Florida, $3,380,000; chiefly mullet and sponges, with red snapper, shad and oysters secondary.
Maryland, $3,306,000.; chiefly oysters, with crabs, shad and alewives secondary.
Maine, $3,257,000; lobsters, with cod, her ring, haddock and clams secondary.
New Jersey, $3,069,000; chiefly oysters, with squeteague, clams and shad secondary.
Connecticut, $2,982,000; chiefly oysters.
California, $1,970,000; chiefly salmon, with oysters secondary.
North Carolina, $1,776,000; chifly shad and oysters.
Rhode Island, $1,752,000; chiefly oysters. Louisiana, $1,569,000; chiefly oysters and shrimp.
Michigan, $1,473,000; chiefly lake trout and herring.
Illinois, $1,436,000; chiefly German carp. Oregon,$1,356,000; chiefly salmon. Wisconsin, $1,067,000; chiefly lake trout and herring.
Ohio, $840,000; chiefly lake herring and carp.
Georgia, $701,000; chiefly oysters.
Mississippi, $556,000; chiefly oysters. Delaware, $541,000; chiefly oysters and menhaden.