REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH Ai\l) FISIIIIUIES. 



METHODS AND STATISTICS OP THE FISHERIES. 



Tlic coiuluct of tliis division has c-oiitiuiiod iindci- tlio diicction of 

 Ml'. -). VV. Collins, assist;inf in charge, bnt since his designation, in Au- 

 gust, 1800, as the representative of the Commission on the Govcrnnient 

 J^>oard of Contnd and Management of the \Vorld's Colninl)ian Ex]H)si- 

 tion, mn(;hof the supervision of the work has devolved uiK)n Dr. Hugh 

 M. Smitli, the principal assistant in the division, to whose accompa- 

 nying re])ort (images 173-201) reference is made for a detailed aeconnt 

 of tlie nature, scope, purposes, and results of the work during the period 

 n n d er con sidcration . 



Tlie inquiries have been mainly confined to the collection and com- 

 l)ilation of the statistics of the fisheries of the United States, giving 

 the rpiantity and value of the products, the capital invested, the number 

 and nationalities of ])ersons employed, and to the stndyof the methods 

 and relations of the fisheries v.'ith a view to their improvement. 



The limited appropriation and the consequent small force available 

 for this work preclude the possibility' of an annual investigati<m of the 

 lisheries of the entire coast and iidand waters of the country; even if 

 this shonld be attempted, it is open to question whetlier the A-ariations 

 in the fisheries from year to year arc generally sufficientlj^ marked, or 

 whether at tliis time the results would be of sufficient ijnportance to 

 warrant the largely increased expenditures that would be required to 

 properly conduct the work. Comparative statistics are more valuable 

 when they relate to definite intervals of time than wlien they cover 

 successive years. The researches of the Commission, wliich have been 

 address(!d to every section of the coast, furnish data for the com])arison 

 of conditions at intervals of three or four years and the determination 

 of the inllnences of the methods and means em]>loyed u])on the pros- 

 ])erity of the fisheries. Thus pursued, they furnish important material 

 which has been or maybe useful as the basis for the regulation, protec- 

 tion, maintenance, and improvement of the fisheries, and for advancing 

 the physical and financial conditions of the fishermen. 



The investigations undertaken during the two years covered by 

 fhis rei)ort were more extensive than had ])reviously been carried on. 

 Field work was done in twenty-two States; com])lete studies of the 

 coast fisheries were made in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 

 Ithode Island, Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 

 Florida, Alabanui, Mississi|)pi, Louisiana, and Texas; inquiries begun 

 during the previous year were brought to a close in New York and Cali- 

 fornia; ami special investigations were made in Maryland, Virginia, 

 I'enusylvania, Oregon, Washington, and elsewhere. 



