cxii GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



journal, 583,000 cod-fish were taken by seven vessels off the 

 coast of Alaska in the summer of 1873. No estimate can at 

 present be formed of the captures off the Banks of Newfound- 

 land and the coast of Norway. New cod banks have lately 

 been discovered off the coast of Spitzbergen. 



The trade in frozen herring off the coast of Maine and in 

 the Bay of Fundy continues to be of great importance. This 

 comparatively new interest has been increasing gradually for 

 many years, and now employs a large force during the win- 

 ter season. The fish are taken in gill-nets and immediately 

 frozen, and then shipped to the western markets of Portland, 

 Boston, New York, etc. The Bay of Fundy is particularly 

 favorable for this trade ; and the recent establishment of a 

 signal station at Eastport has been of great moment, by en- 

 abling those engaged in the business to anticipate the occur- 

 rence of a period of hot or cold weather in time to take 

 measures to protect themselves from loss. The application 

 of the signal telegraph in the service of the fisheries in the 

 United States is comparatively recent, and promises to be of 

 great benefit by communicating information of the occurrence 

 of schools of fish along the coast, and of their movements, to 

 those interested in their capture. 



Another application of the signal telegraph is made by the 

 dealers in fish both on the lakes and the sea-board, who reg- 

 ulate their orders and shipments of fresh fish by the knowl- 

 edge thus obtained of impending atmospheric conditions. 



The American salmon trade continues to increase, and the 

 number of establishments engaged in canning and preparing 

 them for market on the Columbia River and in Puget Sound 

 becomes larger every year. It would almost seem that the 

 vast numbers taken for this purpose must soon bring about 

 their extermination, but as yet no perceptible decrease is re- 

 ported. Numbers of these fish are brought fresh to the 

 East in refrigerator cars to supply the market earlier than 

 the period during which the eastern salmon can be taken. 



In view of the great increase of the halibut fisheries oif 

 the coast of the United States, the hardy fishermen of Cape 

 Ann, who more especially carry on this branch of industry, 

 are obliged to resort to distant seas to obtain a supply; and 

 even Greenland is not too far for their eflfbrts. The coast of 

 Iceland, too, has also been visited by a Gloucester vessel for 



