200 KEl'OltT OF COMMISSION Klv' OF F1SI[ AND FISH KlI IKS. 



steaiJi vessels in tlic iiunket fisheries ol" the I'acilic coast, esj)ecially 

 those of San Francisco; the advantages that wonhl accrue as the result 

 of tlie a(h)ption of steam carriers in certain ('liesapeake Bay fislieries; 

 and the necessity for welled vessels and boats in the shore lisheries of 

 southern California. 



3. Review of tlie lislieries of the rire:it Lakes. (l{e])oit. TI. S. Fisli Coniinis.sion, 



XV, i»p. 3-833, 11 plates.) 



This report is a j''eojii':ipliit''T'l I'cview of the entire fishing industry of 

 the Great Lake system. The liistory, methods, condition, an<l statistics 

 of the lisheries are considered by minor civil di\isions; the lishermen, 

 apparatus, ^'essels, boats, and fishing- grounds are described; notes on 

 the natural history, abuntlance, movements, etc., of the commercial 

 fishes are given; the methods of preserving and sliipping the catch are 

 discussed; the extent of the wholesale trade in lishery products in the 

 principal cities is shown; the changes in the methods of the fisheries 

 since 1880 are indicated; detailed comparisons are made with 1880; 

 the effects of artiticial propagation on the maintenance of the supply is 

 considered; illustrations are presented of the types of boats, vessels, 

 principal forms of apparatus, methods, and most of the important food- 

 hshes, and a series of large charts indicates the position and number of 

 pound nets operated. The lisheries of the Great Lakes^ which are the 

 most extensive lake fisheries in the world, are shown by the report to 

 have given employment to 10,355 ])ersons; tln' capital invested was 

 $4,520,081; the quantity of fish taken was 1)0,812,070 pounds, and the 

 value of the catch to the fishermen was $2,691,80(5, An edition of 1,250 

 copies of this rei)ort was distributed among the fishing interests of the 

 Great Lakes. 



4. Notes on the crab fishery of Crisfiehl, Maryland. (Bullet in IT. S. I'ish Com- 



mission, IX, pp. 103-112, 6 plates.) 



The business of catching crabs, impounding them until alter the 

 shedding process, and of shipping them to market as soft-shell crabs, 

 has in recent years attained considerable importance in Chesapeake 

 Bay, A s}>ecial study of the industry was made at Crislield in 1888, 

 which formed the basis for the remarks in this ])a|)er. Cristield has 

 the distinction of being the (tenter of the most extensive eral>-lishery 

 in the United States, and the industry has of late years increased with 

 wonderful rapidity. In 1888, 785 fishermen engaged in taking crabs in 

 (Jrisfield and vicinity; 4,137,823 crabs were obtained, for Avhich the 

 lishernu'n received $72,120. The dealers in Cristield, to whom the 

 entire catch is sold, shijiped 3,782,057 crabs, the market value of which 

 was $111,731. The dilference between the nund)er of crabs canght 

 and the nnnd)er sent to market, amonnting to 055,70(;, rejnesents the 

 mortality among the crabs as a result of the molting process and inju- 

 ries received when caught. 



