THE FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



By William A. Wilcox, 



Statislical Agent, United States Commission of Fish arid Fisheries. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



In the years 1888 and 1889 the writer conducted a personal canvass 

 of the fisheries of the Pacific Coast of the United States. Detailed 

 statistics of the fishing industry were obtained, and descriptive notes 

 on the history, apparatus, and methods of the fisheries, the abundance 

 of the economic products, the fishing-grounds, etc., were secured. A 

 report' embodying the results of that inquiry was published in the 

 Eeport of the United States Fish Commissioner for 1888 and exten- 

 sively distributed among the persons engaged in the fishing industry 

 of that region. 



In 1892 the rapidly growing importance of the various fisheries of the 

 Pacific States, as determined by the investigations in 1888 and 1889, 

 ai)peared to warrant further attention, and, accordingly, in August of 

 that year, the writer was again detailed for duty on that coast for the 

 purpose of making another investigation of the commercial aspects of 

 the fishing industry. The inquiries began on the Columbia Eiver and 

 were extended over the entire coasts of Washington, Oregon, and Cali- 

 fornia, the canvass being completed in May, 1893. The accompanying 

 report is based on the observations made and information gathered 

 during that time. The detailed references to products, apparatus, 

 methods, fishing- grounds, etc., in the previous report make unnecessary 

 at this time any similar discussion. The text in the present paper is, 

 therefore, intentionally brief, and is either explanatory of the statistics 

 or is addressed to changes that have occurred in the industry since 

 the last investigation. 



The years intervening between the two investigations will be recalled 

 as those of more or less depression in nearly all kinds of business. A 

 period of great commercial activity was followed by a marked decline 

 in most branches, and many of the young cities of the west coast that 

 had been giving employment to thousands of laborers and mechanics 

 found their growth for the time checked. A general depression in other 

 lines of trade has often had a beneficial effect on the fisheries. For lack 



'Report on the Fisheries of the Pacific Coast of the United States. 269 pages; 

 49 plates of tishes, apparatus, boats, vessels, liehiug-grouuds, etc. 



143 



