REPORT OF COMMlBSlOiNER OF FISII AND FISHERIES. '201 



5. Notes ou ;iu improved form of oyster tongs. (Bulletin U. S. Fish Commis- 

 sion, IX, pp. 1(51-163, 1 jihite.) 

 The tongs described are adapted to deep-water lisbiug and may be 

 successfully operated in 200 feet of water. The apparatus consists of 

 two curved iron bars riveted together, terminating in a series of 

 teeth, and is manipulated by means of a rope. By its use large areas 

 of natural oyster beds have been brought within reach of the boat fish- 

 ermen, whose earnings have been consideraljly augmented. In places 

 on the Chesapeake IJay indiN'idual fishermen have, during some seasons, 

 taken five times as many oysters with the new tongs as they could with 

 the old form. The principle involved in this apparatus is of wide appli- 

 cation in the fisheries, and will in time no doubt be extensively utilized 

 in the clam, scallop, sponge, and other fisheries. 



REMARKS ON THE FISHERIES. 



Certain special matters having an important bearing on the commer- 

 cial fisheries which have ])een l)rought to the notice of the oflice by its 

 general and local agents and correspondents may be properly men- 

 tioned in this report. It is not the intention, however, to enter into an 

 extended review of the condition of the fishing industry, a subject 

 which will l)e fully treated of in the separate papers published by the 

 office. 



The modus vlvendi. — An important provision of the proposed fishery 

 treaty between Great Britain and the United States was the so-called 

 modus Vivendi, wliich accorded to United States fishing vessels certain 

 privileges in Canadian ports pending the ratification of the treaty. 

 A'ltlsough the latter was rejected by the United States Senate in 

 August, 1S88, the Canadian Government extended the operation of 

 this ijart of the treaty, and numbers of American vessels have taken 

 advantage of it. In 1888, .'iG vessels from New England ports paid 

 |.'i,8;>l for licenses obtained in Canada; the following year 78 vessels 

 [taid -f 9,r»89.r)0 ; and in 1890, 119 American fishing schooners took' out 

 licenses for which $11,4G1..50 was expended. The license fee is $1.50 

 per net ton, and the privileges thereby secured are the right (1) to 

 enter CJanadian ports to bny bait, apparatns, and supplies, (2) to trans- 

 ship the catch, and (3) to shij) crews. The vessels engaging in the bank 

 cod and halibut fisheries are those which have the greatest occasion to 

 avail themselves of this regulation. 



Effeets of ahrof/aUow of Washhujton treaty on the herring fisheries and 

 the bait supply. — A report on the fisheries of the New England States 

 now being pre])ared will contain the following reference to theinfluence 

 which the expiration in 1885 of the fishery treaty with Great Britain 



