EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. *11 



Bay.* The absence of any system on our part for collecting facts on 

 this subject was never more fully appreciated than when it was needed to 

 protect the United States against an unjust award. Everything possi- 

 ble, however, was done to supplement the deficiency. Lists were ob- 

 tained from the Post-Office Department of all post-offices along the At- 

 lantic coast situated within three miles of the shore, and a circular was 

 prepared and mailed to the postmasters, asking for the names and ad- 

 dresses of all persons within theii" knowledge, who were interested in 

 fishing or the fisheries, Avhether as principals or accessories. A circular 

 was then prepared specifying the nature of the information desired, the 

 main points being the kinds of fish taken, the seasons, the mode of cap- 

 tm-e, and the proportion of the whole, caught within three miles of the 

 land. 



Special information was asked in addition as to the character and 

 quantity of the fish taken off the shores of the British Provinces, espe- 

 cially within the three-mile limit. 



Competent agents were also dispatched to \'isit the principal fishing 

 stations in Vineyard Sound, Buzzard's Bay, Long Island Sound, &c., 

 and the services of a number of Irie leading fish-dealers in New York 

 were secui-ed. A number of persons, also, able to give particular infor- 

 mation were either visited x)ersonally or invited to attend at some suit- 

 able point for further conference. 



The result of these labors was that by the tune the information was 

 needed it became possible to present to the commission, through tlie 

 American counsel, quite a satisfactory series of tables which answered 

 an excellent puri)ose. 



After spending the necessary time in Boston, Salem, &c., in gather- 

 ing a portion of this information, I i^roceeded to Halifax, as already ex- 

 plained, under the division of " The Halilax Station," arriving, as there 

 mentioned, on the 17th of August. 



I immediately placed myself in communication with Judge Foster, 

 the American counsel of the commission, and remained until the 22d of 



* The value of the sea- fisheries of the United States, east of Cape May, \ras ascer- 

 tained to be if; 13, 030, 821, against $8,418,663.25, the value of the Canadian sea-fisheries, 

 as shown by the official reports of 1876. 



The length of the Dominion coast-line in miles is 2,865, the yield of fish to mile of 

 coast-line amounts to 160,934 pounds, viilued at $2,938.10. 



The United States has 1,112 miles of coast-line, east of Cape May, the yield of fish 

 to the mile averaging 287,392 pounds, valued at $3,655 ; this is for the inshore fisheries 

 alone, Avhile the estimate for the Dominion of Canada includes all the sea-fisherios. 

 The total yield of the in and offshore fisheries of the United States, for the region be- 

 tween Cape May and the Bay of Fuudy, amounted for each mile to 940,510 pounds, 

 valued at $11,718. 



The table, which was prepared to illustrate the marine-fisheries of Southern Mas- 

 sachusetts and Rhode Island, exhibited still more astounding totals. Within a stretch 

 of coast-line 250 miles in length, the weir-fisheries alone yielded an average return of 

 137,097 pounds to the mile, with a mean value of $4,642, while to each m;iu employed 

 in the fishery the yield amounted to 73,610 pounds, with a mean value of §2,661. 



