REPORT OF THE DIVISION OF STATISTICS AND METHODS 
OF THE FISHERIES. 
By C. H. TOWNSEND, Assistant in Charge. 
The work in which the statistical field agents of this division were 
employed during the past fiscal year included investigations of the 
fisheries of the Pacifie coast, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi 
River and tributaries. 
The Pacific coast region was canvassed by Mr. W. A. Wilcox, with 
the assistance in California’ of Messrs. A. B. Alexander and E.-A. 
Tulian, the latter having been transferred temporarily to duty in this 
division. Mr. T. M. Cogswell canvassed Lake Superior, Messrs. C. H. 
Stevenson and E. 8. King Lake Michigan, and Mr. W. A. Roberts 
Lakes Huron and St. Clair and the St. Clair and Detroit rivers. 
Mr. J. B. Wilson collected information on the whoiesale fishery 
trade of Lake Erie, the statistics of the general fisheries of that lake 
and of Lake Ontario having been obtained before the commencement 
of the fiscal year by Mr. J. N. Cobb. 
The inquiries respecting the Mississippi River and tributaries were 
conducted as follows: 
Mr. Cobb canvassed the Ohio River and the Mississippi and tribu- 
taries from Alton, Ill., to New Orleans, being assisted in Arkansas 
and Louisiana by Mr. G. H. H. Moore. 
Mr. Roberts canvassed the Mississippi above Dubuque, Iowa; Mr. 
Stevenson the Mississippi from Dubuque to Keokuk, Iowa, and the 
Missouri and its tributaries; Mr. King the Illinois River and tribu- 
taries and the Mississippi between Keokuk, Iowa, and Alton, Ili. 
Inquiries respecting the Tennessee River were nade by Mr. Wilson. 
The minor investigations during the year included canvasses of the 
Lake of the Woods by Mr. Cogswell, the fisheries of Nevada by Mr. 
Tulian, the sponge and sturgeon fisheries of Florida and portions of the 
interior waters of Texas by Mr. Cobb. Later Mr. Cobb was detailed 
to assist in an investigation of the fisheries of the Hawaiian Islands. 
Mr. Stevenson was detailed for one month for field work in connec- 
tion with the preparation of reports on the utilization of fishery 
products. 
Other investigations relating to the lobster, sturgeon, menhaden, 
and salmon fisheries of the Atlantic coast were in progress at the 
close of the fiscal year, Messrs. Wilcox, Cogswell, Moore, and Wilson 
being in the field. 
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