REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XV 



500 pages, to l>e issued in numbers as well as in a bound volume, and 

 to contain important information gathered by the Commission. 



16. The leasing of a building for the offices of the Fish Commission. 



17. The importation from England of living turbot and sole for the 

 purpose of stocking the waters of the United States. 



Full information upon all these topics will be found under the proper 

 headings. 



2. — PKINCIPAL STATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



A brief statement of the principal localities at which the work of the 

 Commission was conducted during this year is here given as prefatory 

 to a fuller discussion under each head. 



A. — Investigation and Research. 



1. Gloucester. — Since Gloucester was made the summer station of 

 1878, quarters have, until the present year, been maintained tliere under 

 lease, at Fort Wharf, for the use of the Commission. This was con- 

 sidered an important point, as being one of the principal fishing ports 

 of the Atlantic Coast, where much information in regard to the fisheries 

 and manj' valuable specimens could be obtained from fishing vessels. 

 In June of the present year Messrs. Burns & Co., having purchased 

 the premises, took forcible possession of the Fish Commission quar- 

 ters, although the lease under which the rooms were held did not ex- 

 pire until January, 1882. The Attorney-General, the honorable Wayne 

 MacVeagh, instructed the district attorney for Massachusetts, Judge G. 

 P. Sanger, to take anj' necessary steps for maintaining the rights of the 

 United States, but to avoid litigation it was thought best to abandon 

 the station, although it had been intended to make it one of the prin- 

 cipal points for hatching codfish and mackerel on an extensive scale. 

 Since that time, however, Capt. S. J. Martin has made weekly reports 

 of the arrival of fishing vessels and the general features of the fisheries, 

 together with daily records of ocean and atmospheric temperatures. 



2. TFood's Holl. — The summer investigations by the Commission have 

 formed an important feature during nearly every year of its history, 

 having been conducted in its successive years at the following places: 

 1871. Wood's Holl, Mass.; 1872. Eastport, Me.; 1873. Portland, Me.; 

 1874. Noank, Conn.; 1875. Wood's Holl, Mass.; 1870. Intermitted on 

 account of the engagement of the Commissioner at the Centennial 

 Exhibition in Philadelphia; 1877. Salem, Mass., and Halifax, Nova 

 Scotia; 1878. Gloucester, Mass.; 1879. Provincetown, Mass.; 1880. 

 Newport, 11. I.; 1881. W^ood's Holl, Mass. 



The Commissioner was in attendance at this station from July 8 to 

 October 4. From this point dredging trips were made by the steamer 

 rish Hawk to the Gulf Stream and other regions of the North Atlantic. 



3. Saint Jerome. — This station, located near the mouth of the Poto- 

 'iiac River, was established during the previous year by Mr. T. B. Fer- 



