REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 95 
by-products of the fisheries, including the manufacture of fish meal, 
leather, and pearl essence; the initiation of a series of surveys of 
certain primary inland markets; and studies of the methods of con- 
ducting certain fisheries and their effects on the supply. 
The statistical inventories completed during the year included the 
vessels fisheries centering at Boston and Gloucester, Mass.; Portland, 
Me.; and Seattle, Wash.: the shad fishery of the Hudson River and 
the shad and alewife fisheries of the Potomac River; the sardine 
industry of Maine: and the fisheries of the New England States, 
There has been an increased demand for and use of the general statis- 
tical information gathered and published by the Bureau, and there 
is evidence of growing appreciation of the need of support for worthy 
conservation measures, the necessity for which is disclosed by the 
statistical data. <A full account of the activities of this branch of the 
service, with detailed tables and discussions of the results of various 
canvasses, is embodied in a report of the division of fishery indus- 
tries for 1920 (issued as Document No. 908). 
FISHERY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE. 
The daily patrols by seaplanes of the Naval Aviation Service of 
the menhaden fishing areas in Chesapeake Bay and along the coast 
between Assateague and Bodie Island Lights begun in June, 1920, 
were continued until October, when the Navy Department abandoned 
them on the ground that the experiment had fully demonstrated the 
commercial value of planes in this fishery. This service was very 
beneficial to the menhaden industry and was the first thorough test 
of the value of seaplanes in spotting schools of fish. Under the 
present unsettled conditions in the fish oil and fertilizer industries it 
is not. to be expected that a service of this kind will be established by 
the fishery interests. 
The Bureau has obtained the cooperation of the Director of Naval 
Communications and the Commissioner of Lighthouses whereby re- 
ports of the presence of schooling fish are transmitted daily by radio 
by the keepers of certain New England lightships to shore stations 
from which they are forwarded to the Bureau’s local agent in Boston. 
This service was begun about November 1, 1920. Reports of school- 
ing fish are forwarded to the Bureau’s local agents in Gloucester, 
Mass., and Portland, Me., by the Boston agent. Lightkeepers have 
reported the presence of such fish as mackerel, menhaden, and pollock. 
The subject has not received a sufficient trial to determine its prac- 
tical value to the industry or the desirability of extending it to in- 
clude a number of advantageously located lighthouses. 
STUDIES OF FISHERY METHODS. 
Descriptions and diagrams of little-known fishing gear, such as 
paranzella and lampara nets used in the fisheries of California. have 
been published for the information of the trade. The paranzella net 
has been used in the Mediterranean for a long period and was intro- 
duced into California in 1876. It is a heavy, strongly constructed 
net, intended for dragging the bottom chiefly in deep water. It is 
operated with steam and power boats in a manner similar to the otter 
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