REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. 
1.—INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
During the period of time covered by this report the work of the 
United States Fish Commission was under the direction of Prof. Spencer 
F. Baird. In consequence of his declining health and the pressure of ad- 
ministrative duties as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as well 
as Commissioner of Fisheries, the preparation of a report proper to 
accompany the various reports and papers constituting the appendix 
was prevented. 
The following digest of the operations of the year, which has been 
prepared from data compiled mainly by Mr. C. W. Smiley, editor, for 
the convenience of the Commissioner in the preparation of his annual 
report, aims to present briefly, from an impersonal standpoint, the prin- 
cipal features of interest in connection, with the work accomplished. 
The personality of the distinguished naturalist who founded the 
United States Fish Commission, and under whose wise and broad ad- 
ministration it has grown to be the custodian and conservator of one of 
our most important food resources is, however, fitly represented by his 
important posthumous paper on the sea fisheries of eastern North 
America, which appears in the appendix. This monograph, after some 
introductory account of the fisheries, follows with a list of the food and 
bait fishes and invertebrates, together with biographical notices of the 
most important species. The food and the reproduction of the sea 
fishes, their migrations and movements, numbers and abundance, and 
the dangers and fatalities to which they are subject from enemies in the 
sea, from man, and through physical causes or changes are discussed 
at length. The important fishing grounds are described. in detail, as 
well as the apparatus of capture, from the primitive bow and arrow to 
the elaborate nets and pounds of the present time. The various kinds 
of bait, the methods of preserving fish and bait, and the disposition of 
offal are considered. The statistics of the value of the American 
fisheries are given, and followed by a review of the economical ap- 
plications of the products of the fisheries as food for man and animals, 
and for use in the arts and ‘industries in the form of oils, fertilizers, 
medicines, etc. The maintenance and improvement of the fisheries by 
legislation, artificial propagation, and the transfer of species from one 
region to another are subjects which receive the attention warranted 
by their importance. ; . 
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