14 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



Buffalo, St. Louis, at Jamestown, and are now en route for the inter- 

 national exposition at Seattle. 



DISTRIBUTION OF COPIES OF THE LAW. 



The laws relating to the fisheries have been put in the form of a 

 convenient pocket edition,with summaries and abstracts of the most 

 salient points, and these copies have been widely distributed; for it is 

 well laiown that many times the regulations are broken by persons, not 

 informed of the law, who have no malicious intent. Copies of the 

 law may always be had on application to the secretary of the Com- 

 mission. 



CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER STATES AND COUNTRIES. 



In the act of our General Assembly, passed March 21, 1871, creat- 

 ing the Commission of Inland Fisheries, the duties of said Commis- 

 sioners were not only "to introduce, protect, and cultivate fishing in 

 our inland waters," but also "to co-operate with Fish Commissioners 

 of other States." 



This function of the Commissioners is by no means unimportant. 

 There is much to be learned from conference with other authorities, 

 and more important still is the concerted action of people whose 

 territories are contiguous and whose interests are the same. For 

 years your Commissioners have taken a very active part in the ad- 

 ministration and in the deliberations of the American Fisheries 

 Society. 



The International Fishery Congress, that distinguished body 

 composed of representatives of nearly every civilized nation of the 

 world, held its fourth session at Washington last September, when the 

 delegates were welcomed by the President of the United States and 

 the Secretary of Commerce and Labor and were the guests of the 

 United States Bureau of Fisheries. At this congress a former mem- 

 ber of your Commission, Doctor H. C. Bumpus, presided. Several 

 meml;)ers of your Commission were elected to membership, took active 



