REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. 



A— GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



1. — INTRODUCTOEY EEMARKS. 



The operations of the United States Fish Commission commenced in 

 1871, in pursuance of a law passed February 9, 1871, which authorized 

 and directed the appointment by the President of a Commissioner to 

 investigate the alleged diminution of food-fishes along the sea-coast and 

 in the lakes of the United States ; and, if this proved to be the case, to 

 suggest the proper method for restoring the supply. Having been 

 selected by the President for the duty in question, the work was began 

 during the summer season of that year at Wood's Holl, a village on the 

 southwestern portion of Cape Cod, situated on the steamboat-route 

 between New Bedford and Martha's Vineyard. It was continued in 

 1872 at Eastport, Maine; in 1873 at Portland, Maine; in 1874 at Noauk, 

 Conn., on Fisher's Sound; and in 1875 at Wood's Holl for the second 

 time. In this way a general and preliminary idea of the character of 

 the coast and its fisheries was secured, and an important foundation 

 laid for finally carrying out the objects of the research. 



It will, of course, be understood that a question admitting of so much 

 argument and involving so much antagonism on the part of those whose 

 interests are concerned cannot be solved in a day, and that caution is 

 necessary before announcing any conclusion that is not thoroughly a/nd 

 entirely based upon well-established premises. Tbe operations of natural 

 and artificial causes must be watched for a period of several years, for 

 the purpose of eliminating what is extraneous, and of fixing attention 

 upon that which alone has a direct beaiing upon the problem. 



A similar research, commencing at about the same time, has been 

 carried on by the German Government, in some respects on a much larger 

 scale than that prosecuted by the United States; and in Germany, as 

 here, the data for a final decision have not yec been attained. Some of 

 the conclusions published in the Report of the United States Commission 

 for 1871 have not been entirely verified, especially as to the influence of 

 certain agencies upon the fish-supplj- ; and it is only after a patient and 

 careful consideration of all the circumstances that a deduction can be 

 reached which may be considered as authorizing measures of legislation. 



