2* KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The work of tbe Fish Commissiou, iu the proper iuvestigation of this 

 subject, requires the application of many branches of science and the 

 concurrence of numerous specialists. This requires a thorough knowl- 

 edge of all the conditions — physical, mechanical, and biological — of the 

 waters, the habits and characteristics of their inhabitants, and the col- 

 lecting ot accurate statistics of the catch ; and all these data must be 

 known for a period of years, although it is hoped that the Commission 

 has ueraly reached the point when deductions somewhat definite can be 

 made. In the inquiry into the conditions of the ocean and its inhabit- 

 ants, it is, of course, not necessary to go over the ground already covered 

 by other branches of the government. Thus the hydrography of the 

 coast, the general character of the sea-bottom, the nature of the tides, 

 etc., are well pointed out iu the charts of the Coast Survey and of the 

 Hydrographic Office. There are required, however, in addition to what 

 is available, long-continaed and careful observations of the temperatures 

 of the water at the surface, at the bottom, and at intermediate points — 

 these studied in connection with the local conditions of the atmos- 

 phere ; determinations of the chemical composition and of the density of 

 the water; of the precise relation of the various portions of the sea- 

 bottom or of the water to the entire animal life — to be shown only by the 

 use of the trawl, the dredge and the towing-net ; a study of the succes- 

 sive stages of animal life throughout the different seasons of the year; an 

 examination of the vegetation, especially of the different species of algoe, 

 which also have an important relation to the problem — all these and 

 other subjects have been considered by the Commission, with the assist- 

 ance of eminent naturalists and physicists in the various branches of 

 the inquiry. 



The only foreign governments by wiiich a i^recisely similar inquiry has 

 been carried on are those of Germany (already referred to), Norway, 

 and Sweden, the two latter having been especially diligent in the research, 

 bringing all the national resources to the aid of the fisheries, not only 

 in determining their theory, but also in facilitating their practice. 



The Norwegian Government, especially, not only keeps a government 

 vessel, with one of its most eminent zoologists, Prof. G. O. Sars, and 

 several assistants, on the great cod and other sea fishery grounds dur- 

 ing the season, to determine all the points in which assistance can 

 bo rendered to the fishermen, but it has actually constructed a line of 

 telegraph, mostly submarine, along the entire coast and stationed pa- 

 trols at short intervals, by means of which the casual occurrence of a 

 school of herring at any point along the coast is immediately commu- 

 nicated to all the fishermen, who can then unite and utilize what may 

 be the only opportunity of the year to secure a full fare. 



The publication of the results of these inquiries on the part of Europe 

 and America, has added a vast amount of information, both theoreti- 

 cally and practically important. 



As already stated, the original object of the creation of the United 



