REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



XI 



there are accurate data, the catch was 50,866,308 pounds, or, in round 

 numbers, 13,QpO,000 fish as against a little over 5,000,000 in 1880, an 

 increase of over 150 per cent. The value of the shad fishery to the 

 fisheruieu in 1880 was $905,790; in 1896 it amounted to $1,656,711. 

 The Commission expended during the fiscal year 1896-97, $15,726.36, 

 and in the following year $16,356.99 in tlie propagation and distribution 

 of this species. At an average annual expenditure of $15,000 per annum 

 since 1880, the total expended in the propagation of this species during 

 sixteen years would amount to $240,000. As a consequence of the 

 greater abundance of the fish the cost has been materially lessened, 

 but even at the price actually received the increased 33,000,000 pounds 

 was worth $1,049,000, or $809,000 more than has been expended by the 

 Commission on the propagation of this species, exclusive of the cost of 

 the stations, in sixteen years. 



Table showing the number offish andegijs furnished for distributinn by the various stations. 



