76 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



of liacldock and some cod as we were sure to tind potatoes by iiullijig up 

 tlie tops and digging wliere we liad planted the seed in the spring. But 

 after two or three years of using the troll-lines, leaving the lish to die 

 on the hook at the bottom, a man might as well stay at home and fish 

 for haddock in the well — he would catch just as many; but the trollers 

 at that time, I remember, claimed that the steamboats drove the fish out 

 of our Reach. 



I have faith that you can help us out of our present trouble, and re- 

 store, in a measure, the supply of cod and haddock along our coast. 

 Please inform me what steps are necessary to procure a number of young 

 fish for Eggemoggin Eeach, in Hancock County, Maine. Haddock were 

 the fish that mostly frequented that i)lace. Can young haddock be pro- 

 cured from 30ur hatchery at Wood's Holl, Mass. ! 



Brooklin, Me., February 27, 1886. 



REPLY OF PROFESSOR EAIRD. 



I have read with much interest your letter relating to the abundance 

 and disapi:)earance of fish in Penobscot Bay. It is a very difiQcult matter 

 to say positively what has been the most potent of the many causes for 

 the disappearance of fish from their accustomed haunts. I think, how- 

 ever, I can answer with some certainty that it is within our i^ower, by 

 means of artificial propagation, to restock waters and re-establish such 

 fish as cod and haddock in localities where they formerly abounded. 

 From the experiments which have already been made, it can be asserted 

 with considerable confidence that a school of cod may be established in 

 any given locality by constant deposits of fish produced by artificial 

 means. 



I trust that, in the course of time, we shall be enabled to extend the 

 work now being carried on at Wood's Holl and Gloucester, all along 

 the coast of the Northeastern States. 



Washington, D. C, Marcli 2, 1886. 



3d.— NOTES ON Tllli: Fli^HERIEf^ OF PEN^iACOliA, FlyA. 



By SILAS STEARNS. 



The fishing business of Pensacola has been more extensive during the 

 year 1885 than at any time before. The first of the year found an un- 

 usually large fleet of well equipped vessels at work in the red-snapper 

 fishery. One schooner of the fleet was a Portlaml, Me., mackerel catcher, 

 with a crew of sixteen men, and several others were recent purchases 

 from New England, with large Yankee crews. The outfit of all the ves- 

 sels had been improved, and it can justly be said that no better equipped 

 fishing fleet existed anywhere. The most competent skippers that could 

 be found were employed, and under their direction some methods new to 



