J. PISCICULTURE AND THE FISHERIES. 397 



J. PISCICULTURE AND THE FISHERIES. 



R. D. CUTTS ON SEA FISHERIES. 



A valuable report, prepared by Mr. R.D. Cutts, of the United 

 States Coast Survey, upon commerce in the products of the 

 sea, has just been published by the Senate, and is considered 

 a valuable contribution to the statistics of the fisheries of our 

 own country and of the rest of the world. In this the differ- 

 ent marketable products are described in detail, and the rel- 

 ative rank which they occupy in commerce indicated. In 

 addition to this, there is given the area, population, most im- 

 portant ports, and commercial tonnage of the principal na- 

 tions of the world ; the imports and exports of the products 

 of the sea ; showing the capacity of the markets and the 

 countries supplied ; and also the catch, consumption, and bal- 

 ance of trade, from official statistics. 



This report was prepared in 1869 by request of the Secre- 

 tary of State, and transmitted in February of that year, but 

 the order to print was not made until a few weeks ago. 



FRENCH FISHERIES FOR 1870. 



It is well known that the statistics published by the French 

 government in regard to the fisheries of the country are very 

 detailed and extremely accurate, in this respect far exceed- 

 ing those of any other nation. Both the English and Amer- 

 icans are very much behind them in this matter, rendering it 

 extremely difficult to obtain the necessary data forjudging 

 of the actual importance and absolute value of the trade car- 

 ried on in this connection. From a recent number of the Ixe- 

 vae Maritime et Coloniale we find a report of the maritime 

 fisheries of the French for 1870, from which we learn that 

 about 12,000 men were engaged in the cod-fisheries during 

 the year, of whom 7000 were in Newfoundland and 5000 in 

 Iceland. The shore fisheries employed over 57,000 men and 

 31,000 women and children, making the total number of per- 

 sons occupied 101,594. During the same period 188 vessels 

 were employed in the Newfoundland fisheries, and 299 in 

 those of Iceland, while the shore fisheries required 17,110, or 



