REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 25 



by-products of the fisheries, inchidmfr the manufacture of fish meal, 

 leather, and pearl essence: the initiation of a series of surveys of 

 certain primary inland markets: and studies of the methods of con- 

 ducting certain fisheries and their effects on the supply. 



The statistical inventories completed durinc: the year included the 

 vessels fisheries centerinof at Boston and (rloucester, Mass.: Portland, 

 Me.: and Seattle. "Wash.: the shad fishery of the Hudson Kiver and 

 the shad and alewife fisheries of the Potomac River: the sardine 

 industry of ^Nlaine : and the fisheries of the Xew Enjrland States. 

 There has been an increased demand for and use of the ireneral statis- 

 tical information orathered and published by the Bureau, and there 

 is evidence of irroAvinf,^ appreciation of the need of support for worthy 

 conservation measures, the necessity for which is disclosed by the 

 statistical data. A full account of the activities of this branch of the 

 service, with detailed tables and discussions of the results of various 

 canvasses, is embodied in a report of the division of fishery indus- 

 tries for 1920 (issued as Document No. 908). 



FISHERY INTrXLIGENCE SERVICE. 



The daily patrols by seaplanes of the Naval Aviation Service of 

 the menhaden fishinj^ areas in Chesapeake Bay and alon<r the coast 

 between Assateapue and Bodie Island Lio^hts begun in June, 1920, 

 were continued until October, when the Navy Department abandoned 

 them on the ground that the experiment had fully demonstrated the 

 commercial value of planes in this fishery- This service was very 

 beneficial to the menhaden industry and was the first thorough test 

 of the value of seaplanes in spotting schools of fish- Under the 

 present unsettled conditions in the fish oil and fertilizer industries it 

 IS not to be expected that a service of this kind will be established by 

 the fishery interests- 



The Bureau has obtained the cooperation of the Director of Naval 

 Communications and the Commissioner of Lighthouses whereby re- 

 ports of the presence of schoolin^: fish are transmitted daily by radio 

 by the keepers of certain New Kngland lightships to shore stations 

 from which they are forwarded to the Bureau's local agent in Boston. 

 This service was begun about November 1, 1920. Reports of school- 

 ing fish are forwarded to the Bureau's local agents in Gloucester, 

 Mass., and Portland, Me., by the Boston agent. Lightkeepers have 

 reported the presence of such fish as mackerel, menhaden, and pollock. 

 The subject has not received a sufficient trial to determine its prac- 

 tical value to the industry or the desirability of extending it to in- 

 clude n number of advantageously located lighthouses. 



STUDIES OF FISHERY METHODS. 



I 



De.scriptions and diagrams of little-known fishing ^rear. such as 

 aranzella and lampara nets u>ed in the fisheries of California, have 

 •een published for the information of the trade. The paranzella net 

 has been used in the Mediterranean for a long period and was intro- 

 dueed into California in 1876. It is a heavy, strongly constructed 

 net, intended for dragging the bottom chiefly in deep" water. It is 

 operated with steam and power boats in a manner similar to the otter 

 7W64— 21 4 



