14 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
timely. Special attention was directed to the lobster fishery, whose 
successful continuance has been seriously imperiled by overfishing. 
At the close of the year this investigation was well under way. 
Early in the fiscal year an investigation of the fishing industry of 
the Pacific States was begun by Mr. W. A. Wilcox, who had made a 
similar canvass in 1889. Personal visits were made to all fishing cen- 
ters on the coast and the coast streams, and very valuable data were 
secured for each of the years intervening since the last canvass. Espe- 
cially useful statistics regarding the salmon industry were obtained. 
Although Alaska was not visited, complete statistical information 
covering the fisheries of that territory were obtained from the firms 
engaged, all of whom have headquarters in San Francisco or other 
cities of that coast. In San Francisco and vicinity Mr. Wilcox was 
assisted by Mr. A. B. Alexander, fishery expert on the Albatross, who 
was temporarily detached from the vessel for that purpose. The inquiry 
closed in May, 1893. An account of this work and its results is given 
in the report of the assistant, and Mr. Wilcox’s full report will be found 
among the appendices to this report. 
In connection with the work of the International Fisheries Commis- 
sion, Dr. Smith, at the request of the United States commissioner, 
Mr. Rathbun, during June, 1893, accompanied the commission to 
Boston, Woods Hole, Provincetown, and other New England fishing — 
centers. 
The report for this division contains a brief synopsis of the papers, 
based on the division’s field inquiries, issued during the year. These 
included statistical and descriptive articles on the fisheries of the 
New England States, the South Atlantic States, the Gulf States, and 
of Lake Ontario. The report concludes with notes on some of the 
more important fisheries, and on certain branches possessing special 
interest. 
DIVISION OF FISH-CULTURE. 
The continued growth of the Commission rendered it necessary that 
the Commissioner should relieve himself of the direct supervision of the 
details of this division, the charge of which he had assumed upon his 
appointment as Commissioner. On July 6, 1892, he therefore appointed 
as the assistant in charge Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, the ichthyologist of 
the Commission. Dr. Bean assumed charge of the division and retained 
its immediate direction till the beginning of the following January, 
when his appointment as representative of the Commission on the Goy- 
ernment Board of Management and Control of the World’s Columbian 
Exposition, Chicago, necessitated his being relieved of other duty. Mr. 
S. G. Worth, the superintendent of Central Station, was then detailed 
as acting assistant in charge of the division, the duties of which posi- 
tion he performed with fidelity and ik for the remainder of the year 
covered by this report. 
