26* REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



To the express companies, too, especially tlie Adams aud Soutliern com- 

 panies, ackuowledgments are due for w aiviug their privilege of con- 

 trolling the extra freight on certain railroads. In one or two instances 

 serious difficulty was experienced by agents of the express companies 

 insisting upon the right to have the cans of the Commission delivered 

 to them for transportation. This was done in one or two instances 

 aud resulted very disastrously in the entire destruction of the fish. 

 Ai)plication to the jiresideut of the companies, however, secured from 

 them instructions to their subordinates to waive all claims of the kind 

 referred to. 



Acknowledgments are also due to certain steamship companies inly- 

 ing between Boston, New York, and various points in Europe for as- 

 sistance in transporting the messengers and the eggs offish under their 

 charge, free of expense. When contemplating the transmission of eggs 

 of the California salmon and land-locked salmon and of whitefish to certain 

 points in Europe, the agents of the French Transatlantic Steamship Com- 

 l)auy, of the Netherlands Steam Navigation Comj)any, and of the North 

 (rernian Lloyds, in New York, agreed to transport the eggs sent abroad 

 free of expense. By reference to a succeeding paragrax)h, in describing 

 the history of operations connected with the attempted introduction of 

 turbot and sole into the United States, it will be found that very impor- 

 tant assistance was rendered by the Cunard line in giving to Mr. Mather, 

 the agent of that transfer, a free passage for himself and fish from Liv- 

 erpool to Boston. This was primarily through the instrumentality of 

 Mr. J. G. Kidder of Boston, who was among the first to suggest the im- 

 jjortance of this transfer and to offer his services in assisting it. 



12. — LEGISLATION AND PROTECTION. 



A very large 'part of the correspondence of the Commission is con- 

 nected with inquiries relating to the jurisdiction of the United States 

 aud of the States over the fishing grounds, and the methods by which 

 all parties can secure their rights. 



A very decided antagonism exists in this country, as in Europe, be- 

 tween x>rofessional fishermen, who i)rosecute their work by different 

 methods. Attention has been called in previous reports to the Parlia- 

 mentary investigation in England into the relations between line-, beam 

 travvl-, and net fishing, as also between fishing by hand-line and trawl- 

 line, and between seines, pounds, and drift-nets. The question as to 

 who possesses jurisdiction over the fisheries jiroper along the coast of 

 the United States, an«l in the navigable waters is yet unsettled. At 

 present, the United States does not exercise any, but leaves to the 

 States the enactment of laws on the subject. Some fishermen, aggrieved 

 by the burden of State legislation, threaten to appeal to the Supreme 

 Court for the decision of the question ; and it is much to be hoped that 

 before long a test case may be established, so that i)ersons interested 



