REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. CLXXXIX 



Bulletin No. 167. Fisheries of the Pacific States: The figures in this 

 bulletin were obtained from the proof sheets of the Fish Commission 

 report, then going through the press, on the fisheries of the Pacific 

 States. Concerning the utilization of this material the Superintendent 

 of the Census says: 



In 1889 the U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries conducted an exhaustive 

 inquiry into the fisheries of this region, the results of which have been embodied in 

 a report not yet published, the proofs of which have been consulted in the tabula- 

 tion of this bulletin. Although the data thus made available mostly ijertain to the 

 year 1888, it is known that changes which occurred in the fisheries of this region 

 between that time and the census year were not marked, and will not invalidate the 

 presentation of the following figures as the census of 1889. 



Bulletin No. 173. Fisheries of the Great Lakes : The authors, after 

 referring to the field work of the census agents in the Great Lakes, say: 



A similar work was done by the agents of the U. S.Fish Commission in the year 

 1885, and the very comprehensive report issued by that department, entitled Review 

 of the Fisheries of the Great Lakes in 1885, furnished a most valuable basis of 

 comparison between the returns made by the field agents of the Census Office and 

 those made by the Fish Commission. A mass of unpublished statistical data in the 

 possession of the Fish Commission has been placed at the disposal of this office by 

 Hon. Marshall McDonald, Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, and the best service 

 of both departments has been freely used to contribute to the completeness and 

 accuracy of this bulletin. 



RE COMMEND ATIONS. 



In concluding this report, some suggestions will be made for the 

 future field work of the division. The canvass of the coastal regions of 

 the country and the Great Lakes has been so recently made, and the 

 extent and condition of the fishing industry of those sections have been 

 so often presented, that it is thought that the services of the regular 

 field force may be advantageously and properly withdrawn temporarily 

 from the consideration of this work and directed for a season toward 

 other important branches or phases of the fisheries that have received 

 little or no attention from this office. 



One of the most inviting and important inquiries that properly fall to 

 the attention of the Division of Fisheries is the investigation of the fish- 

 eries and fishery resources of the minor lakes and inland streams of the 

 United States. An effort was made during the prosecution of the fishery 

 census of 1880 to secure statistics of the inland fisheries, but the time, 

 force, and means available were so limited that the results achieved were 

 not satisfactory, and no figures were published except a general state- 

 ment that the minor fisheries of the smaller lakes and interior rivers 

 had an estimated annual value of about $1,500,000. 



The meager information at hand goes to show that this estimate is 

 probably very much below the actual figures, and it can be confidently 

 asserted that an investigation of these so-called minor fisheries will 

 demonstrate the existence of a much more extensive and iinj)ortant 

 industry in interior waters than is generally sux)posed. 



