Fish mortality in the Gulf of Mexico

PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 125

FISH

:»IOKTAL,ITV IN

THE

GULiF

OF MEXICO.

By M. A. MOORE.

Beaidentown

p. O.,

Manatee County, Florida,

Xovemhcr30, 1880.

Sir: I hope you willexcuse the liberty I takeiu writingyou tliislet- ter, but on yesterday Maj.

W.

I. Turner gave

me

a blank circular of yours

and

asked

me

to ^fill out the queriesfor him, which I did,

and

thought no

more

of it atthe time.

But

on thinking thematteroverI have

come

to the conclusion that thereis a matterhere thatmight be of

some

interest to yourcommission,asitisoneofmostvital imxiortance to

many

here.

You

aredoubtless aware that

we

have employed here a

number

of vessels asflshiug-smacks, rangingfrom 30to 50tons,

whose

vocationit istocarrylive fishto the

Cuban

markets. This industry providesoccu- pation

and

subsistencefora large portion of our population in South Florida.

About

two years ago certain portions of our Gulf waters

became

poisoned in

some way

thatcaused thedeath ofall the fish that

came

ⁱⁿ contact with it.

Whenever

a

smack

withafullfare, L e., afullcargoof fine healthyfishin her well,sailed into this poisoned water everyfish

woulddie,

and

they

would

haveto be thrown away. This compelled the vessel to returnto fishing, attheloss of amonth's hardwork.

This state of affairshasoccurred again; the waters of someportiops of theGulf becoming sonoxiousas to kill thefish.

The

poison seems to beconfined to certain localities and currentsforthe time being, as sometimesthisstate ofaffairsisobserved

more marked

atoneplace

and

sometimesat another. However,thereseemstobe

more

ofitaboutthe

mouth

ofCharlotte

Harbor and

off

Punta

Eassa than elsewhere.

When

this condition of water prevails, the surface of the water is

covered withdeadfish,

and

the beachiscovered with

them

insuch

num-

bersthat sometimes the stenchis intolerable.

During

its prevalence twoyearsagothemilitary

commander

atFortJeifersonontheTortugas

had

to

make

daily details tocarryoff the dead ^fishthrown

up

on the beachfor fearit

would

breed apestilence.

I live immediately on the beach of

Palma

Sola Bay,

and some two

weeks agothe beach

was

covered with deadfish.

The

only thing that seemstobeinexplicableisthatthiswaterseemstoaffect

what

aretermed here bottom-fishmore than

any

others.

The

^principal

game

of thefish-

ing

smack

are the grouper {Serramis nigriUs),

and

the snapper {Ser- ranns eryilirogaster). These, with the perch, king-fish, trout,

and

all

thosefishwhichtake the hooks seemtobe

much more

affectedthan the mullet [Mugil Uneatiis), or the

pompauo

{Bothrohcmns immpaniis). In our parlance herefishthattake thehookare called bottom-fish in contra-

126 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.

distinctionfromthose that go in schools and are taken witli thenet,

and

the bottom-fish seem to be

more

^affected

by

thiswaterthan the others,

timbers

of sharks

and

rays, eels

and

catfish are thrown

up

dead onthe beach.

I

am

not aware that there has been any reportof this matter

made

to yourcommission, or

any

attempt

made

attheanalysisof the water,

and

wouldnothave taken the libertyofwriting, save forthefact that the greater part^ofour fishermen are comparativelyilliterate.

My own

opinion is that thestate

and

condition of thewaterarecaused

by some

volcanicaction atthebottom. I

may

be

wrong

in

my

technical

names

of thefish, but ourfish have never been properlyclassified,

and

I give youthe bestI cando.

With

arenewed apologyforthe liberty Ihave taken, 1 remain, most respectfully,

M.

A.

MOORE.

Professor

Bated,

Commissioner of FishandFisheries, Washington, J). C.

4>jV

the DKSTRUtJTION OF FISH IVY I»OtiHJTEI> \»'ATERS IIV THE

CJUtiF

OF MEXICO.

By

1¥. €.

W. OJLAZI£R, Assistant Surgeon, M. H. S.

Treasury Department, Office SuPERvisiNa Surgeon-General United States Marine Hospital

Service,

Washington,D. C, December 7,1880.

Sir: Ihavethe honorto transmitherewith copyof aletterreceived

on

the 3d instant from Assistant Surgeon

W.

0.

W.

^Glazier, of this service,

now

on dutyat

Key

West, which ^it

was

thought might be of interest toyou.

Very

respectfully,

JOHK

B.

HAMILTON,

Surgeon- General U. S.MarineHospital Service.

Prof. S. F.

Baird,

Commissioner of Fish andFisheries, Washington, D. C.

United States Marine Hospital

Service,

District of the Gulf, Port of

Ejey

West,

Fla.,

8urgeon''s Office, November 25, 1880.

Sir^: I have the honor to report, as a matter of scientific interest, that it has occurred several times that fishermen returning from the coastof Florida with fish, in an apartment of their boats communica- tingfreely with the surrounding water,have

had them

die suddenly^on reachinga certainkind of waterdistinguishable

by

itscolor. Thishas