12* REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



valuable coimsel and advice of the ofiQcers and members of this asso- 

 ciation have always been at the service of the United States Commis- 

 sioner, and have been made use of in many important instances. 



Relation to State fish cormnissions. — The rapidly-increasing interest 

 in the subject of fish culture and the appreciation of the benefits it is 

 likely to render to the country at large is shown by the increasing num- 

 ber of State fish commissions appointed since the commencement of fish- 

 breeding operations by the United States. In 1871 the whole number 

 of State commissions in actual operation consisted only of those of 

 Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Xew York, New Jer- 

 sey, Pennsylvania, and California. At the present time, however, no 

 fewer than twenty States are provided with such officers; and while some 

 have but a small amount of money at their disposal others have had 

 placed at their command a supply more or less adequate to their needs. 



At their request the United States Commissioner had for several years 

 past called meetings of the State Fish commissioners. In 1874 and 1875 

 these were held at the same time with the annual February meeting in 

 New York of the American Fish Culturists' Association. At the meeting 

 of 1875, however, it was proposed that the convention for 187G should 

 be held at Philadelphia during the Centennial Exhibition ; and this took 

 place on the 5th of October, and was attended by nineteen commis- 

 sioners from ten States. Mr. Theodore Lyman, of the Massachusetts 

 commission, presided. 



A special subject of consideration at this meeting was the propriety 

 and character of inter-State legislation on the subject of fish and the 

 fisheries, and the relations of the general government to the common 

 waters or to the high seas. A paper on this subject was read by Mr. 

 Milner, the Assistant United States Commissioner, which was approved 

 by the convention. This communication, then in an imperfect and unfin- 

 ished condition, will soon be presented for publication. 



The methods and plans of the United States Commission in stocking 

 the waters of the United States were entirely approved, and their 

 continuance on as large a scale as the funds would permit was recom- 

 mended. Attention was especially directed to the impossibility of 

 securing proper action by the States alone in increasing the supply of 

 important fish, which was illustrated by the fact that should Ohio under- 

 take to introduce salmon or shad into her waters at her own expense the 

 fish, necessarily descending to the Gulf of Mexico in order to receive 

 their full growth, would return along the borders of or through a large 

 number of States before they could reach the waters from which they 

 started, those actually accomplishing this feat being but a small fraction 

 of the original number. 



The States nearer the Gulf of Mexico, again, would not find in the 

 Mississippi a suitable place for the deposit of the young fish, and con- 

 sequently any effort or expenditure that might be made would be neu- 

 tralized. When, however, the work is done by the general j,overnment, 



