XII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



A plan has been adopted to bring to the knowledge of those inter- 

 ested reliable and prompt statistics of the fisheries, by means of monthly 

 bulletins showing the quantity and value of the catch landed at certain 

 important ports, as well as special bulletins relating to the condition of 

 the fisherj^ industries. These reports are issued to those engaged in 

 the business and to the various boards of trade. As this plan has 

 received general commendation from those interested, it is designed to 

 extend the system to embrace all centers of the fishing trade. At the 

 end of each year these statistics will be issued in complete form, and 

 comprehensive and reliable data will be at once available. 



The field inquiries, described at length in the accompanying report of 

 the Division of Statistics, covered an extensive territory, and attention 

 may be called to some of the more important. 



The canvass of the shad and alewife fisheries, which is of special 

 interest on account of the fish-cultnral operations with shad during 

 recent years, has been very exhaustive, including statistics of the per- 

 sons employed, appliances used, extent and value of the fisheries, and 

 other special information. It was developed that in 189(5 there were 

 27,000 persons engaged in these fisheries and a capital invested of about 

 $2,17'2^00(). The catch amounted to 50,775,000 pounds of shad and 

 62,060,000 pounds of alewives, valued at $1,656,000 and $409,000, 

 respectively. 



The results of the canvass of the fisheries of the Pacific States are 

 embodied in a special report published as an appendix to the report for 

 1896. The leading fishery product of this region is the chinook salmon, 

 and the next most important is the oyster. In 1895 17,305 i^ersons 

 were engaged in the various branches of the industry and $7,275,000 

 were invested. In some sections the fisheries are largely increased, 

 San Diego and Los Angeles counties especially having built up consid- 

 erable new trade with the interior States, though San Francisco con- 

 tinues to be the chief trade center for the reception and distribution of 

 the products. » 



For the calendar year 1896 there has been a falling off in the quanti- 

 ties of fisli landed by American fishing vessels at the ports of Boston 

 and Gloucester, as compared with the prior year, the decrease affecting 

 both ports. The aggregate receipts were 130,673,766 pounds, valued at 

 $3,286,898. Each species participated in the decrease, except halibut 

 and mackerel, though at Boston the amount of cod lauded was in excess 

 of the previous years. 



Inquiries during the summer of 1896 confirm the previous reports that 

 the shad and striped bass introduced on the Pacific coast continue to 

 increase, the former being so plentiful as to retail at very low iirices. 

 The striped bass are specially numerous in the San Francisco Bay 

 region, and their rate of increase is such that at present their artificial 

 propagation need not be considered. 



The regular annual investigations of the fur-seal rookeries, under the 

 direction of this ofiice, were carried on duriug the summer of 1890 in 



