REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 13 
The work of the division has consisted chiefly of field investigations 
of the commercial fisheries, and the preparation of general and special 
reports based on the data collected by the division. A large amount 
of correspondence embodying technical information has been sent out 
by the division; a number of special discussions on fishery topics have 
been prepared for the use of the Commissioner and others; and consid- 
erable statistical and other data have been supplied to State officials. 
The field investigations carried on by this division were addressed to 
regions having very important fisheries. The previous practice of 
taking up for investigation each year definite sections or fisheries, 
depending largely on work already done covering the same subject, 
has been continued. In this way it is possible, with the present force, 
to canvass the fisheries of the coast and Great Lakes States about once 
in three or four years. The inquiries of the division in 1893 were 
mainly directed to the methods and statistics of the fisheries of the 
Middle Atlantic States, the New England States, the Pacifie States, 
and of the mackerel fishery. Several minor subjects were also consid- 
ered, and the regular agencies at Gloucester and Boston, Mass., were 
continued. 
The inquiries in the Middle Atlantic States were in continuation of 
those of the previous year, referred to in the last report; the Chesa- 
peake basin and the adjoining ocean shores of Maryland and Virginia 
were then canvassed, leaving for consideration during the fiscal year 
1893 the fisheries of New York and New Jersey and those parts of 
Pennsylvania and Delaware not tributary to the Chesapeake. The 
field investigations in this region covered the calendar years 1889, 1890, 
1891, and 1892, except in New York, in which the time of the inquiries 
prevented the agents from obtaining complete statistics for the last- 
named year. In the appended report of the assistant full references to 
the scope and results of the canvass of the Middle States are given, 
including statistics and comparative data. 
The recent serious decline in the mackerel fishery, and the great 
attention which the scarcity of mackerel had received, made it desirable 
to have full statistical and other information upon these subjects. 
Accordingly, in connection with the other field inquiries, elsewhere 
alluded to, a canvass of the mackerel fishery was undertaken in the 
spring of 1893, and arrangements were made for securing more detailed 
data than had previously been obtained. This work was in progress at 
the close of the fiscal year. Reference to the accompanying report 
of the assistant in charge will show the scope and character of the 
investigation. 
A study of the important fisheries of the New England States was 
made in conjunction with the investigation of the mackerel fishery of 
that region. No general fieldwork had been carried on in this section 
Since 1889, and in the meantime some noticeable changes had occurred 
in the condition of the industry which made another canvass in 1893 
