EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. LVII 



encountered and overcome. It was found tliat tlie principle on which 

 the work was to be done was diametrically opposite to that used in con- 

 nection with the fresh -water varieties, as the egg of the cod floats on 

 the top of the water instead of sinking to the bottom. This obstacle 

 was finally surmounted, and many millions of the young cod were hatched 

 out and planted in the ocean adjacent to Gloucester Harbor. A number 

 of these fish were sent to Washington. 



It is now believed to be x)ossible not only to greatly increase the sup- 

 ply of the cod where it is at present found, but, by carrying the young to 

 new localities, to establish cod fisheries as far south as the coast of 

 North Carolina, where the fishermen may find regular occupation during 

 the winter — now his poorest season — in capturing these fish in large 

 quantities and supi)lying the adjacent markets or even exj^orting them. 



The same apparatus and mode of treatment can be used for hatching 

 mackerel, halibut, sea-lierriug, and other species, so that we have at our 

 command the means of so improving and increasing the American fish- 

 eries as to obviate the necessity in the future of asking a participation in 

 the inshore fisheries of the British provinces and thus enable us to dis- 

 pense with fishery treaties or fishery relations of any kind with the Brit- 

 ish or other governments. 



