REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XIII 



Penobscot salinon, and the land-locked salmon, under that of Mr. Charles 

 G. Atkins. 



Fuller details will be furnished hereafter in regard to the various 

 branches of operation. 



2. — SPECIAL OBJECTS OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



In the report for 1878 I have given in considerable detail, not neces- 

 sary to be repeated here, a sketch of the objects of the Commission, 

 Of course as the old problems are solved new points of inquiry arise to 

 take their places, and in the wide range of subjects covered by the 

 field of the Commission a vast deal remains to be done before its objects 

 can be considered as properly accomplished. 



Before proceeding to give special details connected with the different 

 operations of the Commission, it gives me pleasure to acknowledge the 

 services that have been rendered both by the Government and by pri- 

 vate parties. The law in the statute book requiring the executive de- 

 partments of the government to render the Commission all necessary 

 and practical aid has, as heretofore, been faithfully carried out by them, 

 as follows: 



3. — ASSISTANCE RENDERED TO THE COMMISSION. 



As in previous years, the work of the United States Fish Commission 

 has been very greatly facilitated by the co-operation of various bodies, 

 public and private. 



The Navy Department. — The most important aid was rendered by the 

 Secretary of the Navy, in the detail of the United States steamer Speed- 

 well, under Lieutenant Tanner, with a full crew, for a three months 7 

 service, as referred to under the head of deep-sea research. Also, by 

 the loan of a steam launch for service on the Susquehanna River. 



Treasury Department. — The Bureau of Revenue Marine, of the Treas- 

 ury Department,' instructed Captain Fengar, of the cutter Ewing, sta- 

 tioned at Baltimore, to transport three scows of the Commission from 

 Havre de Grace to Ciisfield, Md., and from Crisfield to Baltimore. 



The Light-House Board has continued its co-operation in requiring 

 the keepers of light-houses and light-ships to make and render monthly 

 a record of the temperature of the water. 



The United States Coast Survey, under Captain Patterson, supplied 

 a large number of charts for the use of the Commission; and also lent 

 a number of Casella-Miller thermometers, while awaiting a supply from 

 London. 



The War Department. — The Secretary of War authorized the expendi- 

 ture by the Engineer Bureau of an available portion of the river and 

 harbor appropriation for dredging a channel through the bar at Spesutie 

 Island, below Havre de Grace, to allow the passage of launches at low 

 water to the fish-hatching barges near the island. 



