VIII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Ou the Pacific coast the principal investigation related to the fur- 

 seal fishery of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. The informa- 

 tion sought was the ascertainment of other, if any, hauling-grounds for 

 the seals ou the Alaska coast than those of the Pribilof Islands, the 

 relations that miglit exist between the American and Asiatic herds, 

 and a knowledge of the pelagic habits of these animals. These inquiries 

 were conducted for use in connection with the preparation of the Ber- 

 ing Sea case before the proposed Tribunal of Arbitration at Paris. 

 By direction of the President, on July 9, 1891, the steamer Albatross 

 was ijlaced at the disposition of the agents of the Government detailed 

 to visit the seal islands, Doctors T. C. Mendenhall and C. Hart Mer- 

 riam. The ship sailed ttom San Francisco July 16 and did not return 

 till toward the close of the following month, too late to permit her 

 return to northern waters to prosecute the intended inquiries, and they 

 were deferred till the middle of March, 1892, when they were taken up 

 under the nominal direction of tlie Secretary of the Treasury, the 

 instructions, however, emanating from the State Department and the 

 Fish Commission. A general outline of the information gained, as also 

 of the cruise of the vessel, will be found in the accompanying report 

 of Mr. Kathbun. 



Upon the return of the Albatross to the United States on August 22, 

 1891, she was occupied in an investigation of the fishery resources of 

 Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca and in some incidental 

 fishing and dredging trials till September 18, from which date till the 

 following March she was transferred to the direction of the Secretary 

 of the Navy for use in the determination of a practicable route for a 

 telegraphic cable between San Francisco and Honolulu, as provided by 

 the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891. 



On the Atlantic coast the principal work of the division was an investi- 

 gation, through the agency of the schooner Gramjms, of the distribu- 

 tion and abundance of fishes in Cbesapeake Bay and adjacent waters, 

 and the conduct of inquiries off the southern coast of New England 

 for the purpose of determining the physical characteristics of the belt 

 of water bordering the coast through which, in their seasonal migra- 

 tions north and south, so many important fishes pass, the changes 

 wiiich occur therein, and the causes for such changes. A large part of 

 the year was spent by the steamer Fish IlaivJc in the delineation of the 

 oyster-grounds of Chesapeake Bay and the determination of their con- 

 dition, with a view of ascertaining the possibilities of increasing the 

 product of this moUusk. 



Through arrangements made with Dr. John A. Eyder, experiments 

 were conducted at Sea Isle City, N. J., for the purpose of determining 

 some practical system for the collection of oyster si)at so as to permit 

 the utilization of areas of muddy bottom not suitable for oyster-planting 

 by methods now employed. The study of the food of oysters, and of 

 the relations of oysteis to their environment in that respect, was con- 



