XXIV REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



a fishing vessel might fill up, no great banks are known which can be 

 relied, on to supply a considerable market. South of Dixon Entrance, 

 in the waters of British Columbia, halibut are found in large numbers 

 throughout the winter, and in the spring are found in limited numbers 

 in the waters of southeast Alaska. 



THE STEAMER FISH HAWK. 



The constant service of this vessel since she was last thoroughly 

 overhauled in 1890 had necessitated extensive repairs, besides new 

 boilers to supply the place of those which had been in use since 1887. 

 Accordingly, on the completion of the mackerel work in July, 1897, the 

 vessel was dismantled and sent to East Boston to receive a new main 

 and auxiliary boiler. A new propeller, propeller shaft, and evaporator 

 were added, and such other general repairs made to the machinery and 

 joiner work as were essential to render the vessel perfectly seaworthy 

 and serviceable. The hatching outfit also was renewed and the deck 

 rearranged to permit an increase of the hatching capacity of about 

 50 per cent. Not only has the efficiency of the ship been greatly im- 

 proved by these alterations and repairs, but she can now maintain an 

 increased average speed at a considerable saving of coal and of wear 

 on the machinery. 



During the winter of 1897-98 the Fish HaivJc was in attendance on 

 the Fisheries Congress at Tampa, Fla., and afterwards engaged in a 

 survey of the oyster-grounds in Louisiana, already referred to. At the 

 conclusion of this duty, at the request of the United States Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey, a hydrographic survey of Grand Bay, Alabama, was 

 made in the latter part of February, 1898 5 and in March an investiga- 

 tion was conducted with reference to establishing a shad-hatchery on 

 the Edisto Eiver, South Carolina, but the conditions were found to be 

 unfavorable. 



When the shad season opened the usual fish-cultural work was taken 

 up in North Carolina waters and in the Delaware Eiver and carried on 

 till May 4, 1898, when the vessel was, by order of the President, turned 

 over to the Navy Department for service with the mosquito fleet during 

 the war with Spain, her commander, Lieut. Franklin Swift, U. S. N., 

 remaining with her. Lieutenant Swift had been in command of the 

 Fish Hawli since June 27, 1895, and his services have been of great 

 value to this Commission. 



EXPOSITIONS. 



The Tennessee Centennial Exposition, at Nashville, which was in 

 progress at the close of the last fiscal year, came to an end October 31, 

 1897. The exhibit of the Commission, showing the workings of its 

 various branches as described in the last annual report, attracted great 

 attention from visitors, the specially interesting feature, as in other 

 exhibits of the Commission, being the live fish displayed in the aqua- 

 rium and the practical illustration of fish-culture, which was shown by 

 the hatching of the eggs and the care of the fry of various species. 

 There were hatched at dilferent times during the season 3,500,000 shad 



