EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXVII 



known, even to the fisliermen, now bids fair, when its distribution is 

 better ascertained, to constitute a most important object of pursuit by 

 the fishermen, and to have the especial advantage of occurring farther 

 to the south than the localities in which the cod and halibut are abun- 

 dant, and yet to be equally accessible from any part of the coast. It 

 is extremely desirable therefore that this inquiry be prosecuted so as to 

 ascertain exactly over what degrees of latitude the tile-fish occurs. A 

 similar research in the waters to the south and southeast of New Eng- 

 land will, in all probability, show much more accessible localities for 

 the halibut and cod, especially in the winter season. 



There is also a large field for investigation into new fishing-gi^ounds 

 off the coast of the Southern States; several fishes, such as the sea bass, 

 the red snappers, &c., occurring there in great abundance, while a few 

 localities only are known. 



In time these investigations should be continued into the Gulf of 

 Mexico (where there are vast possibilities of fisheries not yet developed), 

 as well as on the Pacific coast of the United States. Here scarcely 

 anything has been done, or is known, beyond the general fact that 

 valuable stores of food-fishes exist in the sea, though the best fishing- 

 grounds are not yet indicated. 



An incidental result of winter explorations off the middle and south- 

 ern coast of the United States, will be, in all probability, the discovery 

 of the present winter grounds of certain fishes that are abundant near 

 the shores only in the summer, but which are absent for from four to 

 six months in entirely unknown winter quarters. These are especially 

 the mackerel, the bluefish, the menhaden, the swordfish, the horse- 

 mackerel, the shad, the salmon, the Spanish mackerel, &c. In all 

 probability they are found in the same region with the tile-fish, as the 

 researches of last summer showed that the food of all the fishes men- 

 tioned occurs in an inexhaustible quantity in the locality just indicated. 



Xorway has a very small area of ocean in which to prosecute her 

 fisheries, compared with the United States, and a systematic investiga. 

 tion on the American side will undoubtedly produce results of greater 

 comi)arative importance. 



In the earlier years of the American fisheries and in the greater 

 abundance of inshore fishes, with a comparatively slight demand in 

 consequence of the small population of the countrj-, and the difiicul- 

 ties of transporting the fish, it was quite possible to obtain within easy 

 reach of our coast fish enough to meet all the requirements. Now, 

 with a population of fifty millions of people, the great decline of the 

 inshore fisheries, and the ability not only to transport fresh fish to any 

 distance inland, without deterioration, but with also the growing de- 

 mand for salted, dried, and canned fish, it is of the utmost importance 

 that every facility be furnished to the fishermen in the prosecution of 

 their business. The diminution of inshore fishing is particularly 

 noticeable in the case of the halibut. This fish was formerly taken 



