KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XLVII 



to their regular duties. A number of employes of the Fish Commission 

 have beeu detailed from time to time for special work upon this report 

 for periods varying from four months to two years. 



The participation of the Census Office and the Commission of Fish 

 and Fisheries has involved the expenditure of probably nearly equal 

 amounts of moue^', and the division of the results, so far as they are 

 represented in reports ready for the printer, has been arranged to the 

 satisfaction of both. The extent of the material collected has, however, 

 been much greater than was anticipated, and the i)ortion assigned to 

 the Fish Commission being too bulky for publication in the annual re- 

 ports, application was made to Congress for permission to print as a 

 separate special report an illustrated work in quarto upon " The Food- 

 Fishes and Fisheries of the United States." 



This permission was granted in a joint resolution, worded as follows, 

 which passed the Senate July 16, 1882 : 



'•^Resolved by the Senate {the House of Representatives concurrinf/). That 

 the Public Printer be, and is hereby, instructed to print, in quarto 

 form, a report by the United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries 

 upon the food-fishes and fisheries of the United States, the engravings 

 to be in relief, and to be contracted for by the Public Printer under the 

 direction of the Joint Committee on Printing, and to receive the ap- 

 proval of the Commissioner before being accepted ; the work to be 

 stereotyped, and 10,000 extra copies printed, of which 2,500 shall be for 

 the use of the Senate, 5,000 for the use of the House, and 1,500 for tlie 

 use of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. There shall also be 

 printed 1,000 extra copies for sale by the Public Printer, under such 

 regulations as the Joint Committee on Printing may prescribe, at a price 

 equal to the additional cost of publication, and 10 per cent, thereon 

 added." 



The manuscript for this report is, in the main, ready for the i)rinter, 

 and several hundred drawings for the illustrations are finished. Part 

 I was placed hi the hands of the printer in August, 1882, and is now 

 well advanced toward couipletion. The contents of the report, it is pro- 

 posed, shall be as follows : 



THE FOOD-FISHES AND FISHEEY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Introductiou, iucliidiug a geueral review of the fisheries and a statistical suuuuary. 



PAijr I. — The Natural History of Useful Aquatic Auimals. 

 II. — The Fishiug Grounds. 

 III. — The Fishiug Towns, containing a geographical review of the Coast, 



River, and Lake Fisheries. 

 IV. — The Fishermen. 



V. —The Apparatus of the Fisheries, and Fishing Vessels and Boats. 

 VI. — The Fishery Industries, a discussion of methods and history. 

 VII. — The Preparation of Fishery Products. 

 VIII. — Capital and Labor as employed in the Fisheries. 

 IX. — Fish Culture, Fishery Laws, and Fishery Legislation. 

 X. — Statistics of Production, Exportation, and Importation. Summary 

 Tables. 



