EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FLSnERIES. *11 



Bay.* The absence of any system on onr i)ait for collectinj^ facts on 

 this subject was never more fully appreciated than when it was needed to 

 protect the United States against an unjust award. Everything possi- 

 ble, however, was done to supplement the deliciency. Lists were ob- 

 tained from the Post-Office Department of all i)Ost-oflices along the At- 

 lantic coast situated within three miles of the shore, and a circular was 

 l^repared and mailed to the postmasters, asking for the names and ad- 

 dresses of all persons within their knowledge, Avho Avere interested in 

 tishing or the lisheries, whether as principals or accessories. A circular 

 -was then prepared specifying the nature of the information desired, the 

 main points being the kinds of fish taken, the seasons, the mode of cap- 

 ture, and the i)roiX)rtion of the whole, caught within three miles of the 

 land. 



Special information was asked in addition as to the character and 

 quantity of the fish taken off the shores of the British Provinces, espe- 

 cially within the three-mile limit. 



Competent agents were also dispatched to visit the principal fishing 

 stations in Vineyard Sound, Buzzard's Bay, Long Island Sound, «S:c., 

 and the services of a number of ^jtAC. leading fish-dealers in New York 

 were secured. A number of persons, also, able to give particular infor- 

 mation were either visited personally or invited to attend at some suit- 

 able point for further conference. 



The result of these labors was that by the time the information was 

 needed it became i^ossible to present to the cominissiou, througli the 

 American counsel, quite a satisfactory series of tables which answered 

 an excellent purpose. 



After spending the necessary time in Boston, Salem, &c., in gather- 

 ing a portion of this information, I proceeded to Halifax, as already ex- 

 plained, under the division of " The Halifax Station," arriving, as there 

 mentioned, on the 17th of August. 



I- immediately placed myself in communication with Judge Foster, 

 the American counsel of the commission, and remained until the 22d of 



*Thc value of the sea-fislieries of the United States, east of Cape May, was ascer- 

 tained to be S!i:?,030,821, against i?S, 418,603.25, the value of the Canadian sea-fisheries, 

 as shown by the official rexiorts of 1876. 



The length of the Dominion coast-line in miles is 2,865, the yield of fish to mile of 

 coast-line amounts to 160,934 pounds, valued at ^2,938.10. 



The United States has 1,112 miles of coast-line, cast of Cape May, the yield of fish 

 to the mile averaging 287,302 pounds, valued at $3,055; this is for the inshore lisheries 

 alone, While the estimate for the Dominion of Canada includes all the sea-fisheries. 

 The total yield of the in and oft' shore fisheries of the United States, for the region be- 

 tween Cape May and the Bay of Fundy, amounted for each mile to 940,510 pounds, 

 valued at §11,718. 



The table, which was prepared to illustrate the marine-fisheries of Southern Mas- 

 sachusetts and Rhode Island, exhibited still more astounding totals. Within a stretch 

 of coast-line 250 miles in length, the weir-iisheries alone yielded an average return of 

 137,097 pounds to the mile, with a mean value of $4,642, while to each man employed 

 iu the fishery the yield amounted to 78,610 pounds, with a mean value of $2,661. 



