436 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Statistics of the fishery products handled at the municipal wharf, 

 Washington, D. C, are reported to the bureau by agents of the city 

 health department. They are not published in bulletin form, but a 

 summary of the year's activities is published in the annual report 

 of this division. 



Atlantic mackerel fishery. — Statistics on the catch by the Atlantic 

 mackerel fleet are obtained by combining the figures of mackerel 

 landed at Boston and Gloucester, Mass., and Portland, Me., with 

 those obtained by agents who in recent years have been stationed at 

 other Atlantic ports where mackerel are landed. These agents 

 obtain data on the fares of mackerel landed, similar to the data ob- 

 tained on the landings by fishing vessels at the three New England 

 ports. The figures include only the catches made by purse seine and 

 drift gill net craft and are not complete for these gears for craft under 

 5 net tons, capacity. Statistics of this fishery appear only in the 

 annual reports of this division, although the landings at the principal 

 New England ports appear in the monthly and annual bulletins 

 published for those ports. 



Shad and alewife fisheries . — Due to the importance of the Hudson 

 and Potomac Rivers in the production of shad, surveys for the sta- 

 tistics of the catch, value of the catch, and operating units are made 

 annually. On the Potomac River similar statistics also are obtained 

 for the alewife fishery. The surveys are conducted by agents in a 

 manner similar to that employed in the collection of general fishery 

 statistics, except that probably more fishermen are interviewed, as 

 great care is exercised to make these canvasses as accurate as possible. 



The State of New York obtains statistics for the fisheries of the 

 Hudson River that closely parallel those desired by the bureau for this 

 fishery, which alleviates the work on this river. 



Statistics of the shad and alewife fisheries are not published sepa- 

 rately in bulletin form, but a summary of the year's activities is 

 published in the annual report of this division. 



Sponge market, Tarpon Springs. — A large proportion of the total 

 output of sponges in Florida is handled through the sponge exchange 

 at Tarpon Springs. In view of this, the bureau has arranged with a 

 representative of the exchange to furnish statistics of the quantity 

 and value of the sponges, by variety classification, handled through 

 it annually. Statistics of the quantity of sponges handled through 

 the exchange are not published in bulletin form, but a summary of 

 the year's activities is published in the annual reports of this division. 



Pacific halibut fishery. — Statistics of the Pacific halibut fishery are 

 obtained by the bureau's agent in Seattle, aided by bureau represen- 

 tatives in Alaska, American consuls in British Columbia, the Inter- 

 national Fisheries Commission, and the Prince Rupert Halibut Ex- 

 change. The fleet classification has been arbitrarily applied by in- 

 cluding in the "Washington fleet" all United States and Alaska ves- 

 sels that land more than half of their catch in that State. All other 

 United States and Alaska vessels of the halibut fleet are included in 

 the "Alaska fleet." Monthly and annual statistical bulletins are 

 available on this fishery, being published along with the statistics of 

 the landings of fishery products at Seattle, Wash. 



Canned fishery products and by-products. — Beginning in 1921, the 

 bureau has made annual surveys for statistics of the canned fishery 

 products and by-products industries. These are begun the first 



