FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1938 539 
History.—The first comprehensive statistical survey of the fisheries 
and fishery industries of the United States was made for the year 
1880 by George Brown Goode, Assistant Director of the U. S. Na- 
tional Museum, and associates, with the cooperation of the Commis- 
sioner of Fisheries and the Superintendent of the Tenth Census. 
Data for specific fisheries, or restricted sections for years prior to 
1880, were also collected in this early survey and recorded in Mr. 
Goode’s reports. The survey for 1880, however, did not include the 
Mississippi River and tributaries. Periodic general surveys of a 
limited number of States or limited areas of the United States were 
made for various of the intervening years between 1880 and 1908 
and from 1909 to 1928. In 1908 a survey of the entire United States 
was made. The next general survey of the entire United States was 
not made until 1931, although complete data for all sections, excluding 
the Mississippi River and tributaries, were collected for 1929 and 
1930. Complete data on the catch and operating units for all sections, 
excluding the Mississippi River and its tributaries, were collected for 
1932. In the latter survey, however, lack of sufficient funds pro- 
hibited collection of data on wholesale and manufacturing firms except 
those data collected as a part of the canned fishery products and by- 
products surveys. Complete general canvasses were made of the 
Chesapeake and Pacific States for the years from 1933 to 1937, inclu- 
sive, the New England and Middle Atlantic States for 1933, 1935, 
and 1937, and the South Atlantic, Gulf, and Lake States for 1934, 
1936, and 1937. Complete data on the catch of the fisheries of the 
Lake States were also collected for 1933 and 1935. 
Following is a summary indicating the years for which statistics 
were collected on the fisheries and fishery industries in the various 
sections. Figures for the more recent years are available for free 
distribution from the Bureau in bulletin form, but figures for the 
earlier years are available only in the various printed reports of the 
Bureau. These reports are available for reference in the Bureau’s 
library and at many public libraries. 
In the New England States statistics on the catch of the marine 
fisheries, and those conducted in the coastal rivers and bays of these 
States, were collected for the years 1880, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1898, 1902, 
1905, 1908, 1919, 1924, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, and 
1937. For most of these years data on operating units and wholesale 
and manufacturing trade also were collected. In addition to the 
above, a partial statistical survey was made for the entire section in 
1892; a partial survey of the fisheries in Maine, New Hampshire, and 
Massachusetts for the fiscal year 1897; the lobster fishery for 1900 and 
1913; the oyster fishery for 1910; the shad and alewife fisheries for 
1896; the menhaden industry for 1912; the fisheries of Massachusetts 
for 1879; and the fisheries of Connecticut for 1925 and 1926. 
Statistics on the catch of the marine fisheries and those conducted 
in the coastal rivers and bays of the Middle Atlantic States were 
collected for the years 1880, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1897, 1898, 
1901, 1904, 1908, 1921, 1926, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, and 
1937. Data on operating units and wholesale and manufacturing 
trade also were collected for most of these years. In addition to these 
a statistical survey was made of the coastal fisheries of these States in 
1915; catch in all States except New York, in 1892; the shad and 
alewife fisheries in 1896; the shad fisheries of the Delaware River in 
