REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 45 



In 1872 his sphere of labor was exteutled by instructions for the 

 employment of snch measures as might increase the food-fishes of the 

 country; and reports from time to time have been made of the results o£ 

 the work. 



The growing interest in this subject, and the belief that the objects to 

 be accomplished were of great importance to the country; have induced 

 larger and larger appropriations from Congress, and the sphere of the 

 labors of the commissioner has been extended accordingly. His work 

 is prosecuted under two distinct heads : lirst, that of an inquiry into 

 the causes of the decrease of food-fishes ; secondly, that of their multi- 

 plication. 



In prosecuting the inquiry referred to he has established himself at 

 points on the sea-coast where the fisheries it was desirable to investi- 

 gate are carried on, and, by inquiries on his own i)art and those of his 

 assistants, he satisfied himself as to the condition of the fisheries, and 

 the extent to which they have been diminished, and the steps to be 

 taken for their restoration. 



He has embraced the opportunity thus offered, to carry on a thorough 

 survey of the natural history and physics of the ocean, thus doing for 

 the coast portion of the territory of the United States what the explora- 

 tions of Professor Hayden, Lieutenant Wheeler, and Major Powell are 

 accomplishing for the Territories of the West. 



His operations during the summer of 1874 were carried on at Noank, 

 Conn., his field of investigation extending from Narragansett Bay on 

 the east, to the mouth of the Connecticut Eiver on the west, and to the 

 eastern end of Long Island on the south. 



As usual his presence, with the facilities at his command, attracted a 

 large number of visitors, among them some of the movst eminent natur- 

 alists of the country, who were thus enabled to carry on important re- 

 searches in natural history, all of them having a more or less direct 

 bearing upon the objects of the commission. Professor Yerrill, of Yale 

 College, has been associated with Professor Baird from the beginning 

 of this branch of investigation, and as usual labored indefatigably dur- 

 ing the season. 



The results of the labors of 1871 at Wood's Hole have already been 

 published in a volume which constitutes a work of standard excellence. 

 The report for 1872 is nearly ready for publication, and that for 1873 is 

 well advanced. The second division of his duties, that of the work of 

 propagation of food-fishes, was directed more especially to the multi- 

 plication of the shad and salmon. Owing to the late period at which 

 the appropriation for this purpose was available, the operations in re- 

 gard to the hatching of shad were not commenced until June, when 

 camps were successively established on the Delaware, the Hudson, and 

 the Connecticut; that on the Hudson in connection with the fish com- 

 missioners of New York, and that on the Connecticut with the commis- 

 sioners of that State. 



