6 EEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



The appropriations for the Bureau of Fisheries for the fiscal year 

 1917 aggregated $1,144,850, as follows: 



Salaries $427, 350 



Miscellaneous expenses: 



Administration 10, 000 



Propagation of food fishes 360, 000 



Maintenance of vessels 80, 000 



Inquiry respecting food fishes 42, 000 



Statistical inquiry 7, 500 



Protecting sponge fisheries 3, 000 



Protecting seal and salmon fisheries of Alaska 75, 000 



Investigating damages to fishes 25, 000 



Completion of and improvements at stations: 



Gloucester, Mass 3, 000 



Duluth, Minn 2, 000 



Key West, Fla 25, 000 



Lobster-rearing plant 5, 000 



Two steel distribution cars 40, 000 



Two motor boats, Alaska service 10, 000 



Buildings and improvements, Pribilof Islands, Alaska 20, 000 



Repairs, steamer Albatross (deficiency) 10, 000 



A detailed report of the expenditures under each of these appro- 

 priations will be submitted in accordance with law. 



THE COMMERCIAL FISHERIES. 

 OUTLINE OF ACTIVITIES. 



The activities of the Bureau in relation to the commercial fisheries, 

 over which it should be understood the Government exercises no 

 jurisdiction or supervision except in Alaska, have included the fol- 

 lowing subjects during the fiscal year 1917: Canvass of the entire 

 fishing industry of the Pacific States ; canvass of the shrimp industry 

 of the South Atlantic and Gulf States; collection of detailed statistics 

 of the vessel fisheries centering at Boston and Gloucester, Mass., 

 Portland, Me., and Seattle, Wash., and the publication of this in- 

 formation for the use of the trade in monthly and annual one-sheet 

 bulletins; practical studies of the methods of preparing fishery prod- 

 ucts for food, fertilizer, and other purposes; prosecution of an active 

 campaign for the more extensive production, distribution, and 

 utilization of fish for food, particularly certain species that have 

 heretofore entered into the food supply only to a limited extent; 

 demonstrations and investigations adchessed to the proper and more 

 complete utilization of waste products of the fisheries; practical as- 

 sistance to the fishermen through demonstration of new or improved 

 methods of handling and preparing their catch; aid in establishing 

 and promoting a hydroid fishery in United States waters; investiga- 

 tions of new aquatic sources of leather, and conduct of active work 

 in the interests of fishermen and tanners looking to the use of skins 

 of various fishes and other water animals in manufacturing leather; 

 and the dissemination among fishermen and fish packers of a very 

 large amount of descriptive matter on the preservation and utili- 

 zation of fishery products. 



SHRIMP INDUSTRY OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC AND GULF STATES. 



One of the most important fisheries of the South Atlantic and Gulf 

 States is that for shrimp. The Bureau has recently completed a 

 canvass of this industry lor 1916, which reveals a surprising gi-owth 



