REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 21 
which continued several days, the scope of the inquiry contemplated by 
the agreement and the plans for carrying on the necessary investigations 
were discussed in full, and arrangements were also made for beginning 
upon the field work as soon as the season was sufficiently advanced. 
The waters covered by this agreement are not only very extensive 
and diversified, but they afford some of the most important fisheries of 
the world, in the preservation of which both Canada and the United 
States have a mutual interest. With respect to the open waters of the 
Atlantic coast it was decided that the mackerel fishery, which is carried 
on continuously from off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to the mouth 
of the River St. Lawrence, was the only one demanding immediate 
attention in this connection. At the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, about 
Eastport, Me., and the neighboring islands, are several marine fisheries 
which overlap the boundary line. Next come the rivers St. John and 
St. Croix, flowing in part between the Province of New Brunswick and 
the State of Maine. Following in succession are Lake Mempbremagog, 
Lake Champlain, the upper part of the St. Lawrence River, and the 
entire chain of the Great Lakes, except Lake Michigan, which is entirely 
included within the territory of the United States. A short distance 
to the westward of Lake Superior are Rainy Lake and the Lake of the 
Woods, both situated on the northern border of Minnesota and finding 
an outlet northward into Lake Winnipeg and thence into Hudson Bay. 
Farther to the west there are no important waters until we reach 
the Columbia River, where it crosses the boundary into Washington. 
Finally, on the Pacific side, are the extensive sounds and straits 
between British Columbia and the State of Washington, still only 
slightly developed except as regards the catch of salmon. 
As it was evident that the members of the joint commission would not 
have the opportunity of inspecting personally in detail all the fisheries 
on which they were expected to report, it was arranged on the part of 
the United States Fish Commission to send out several field parties to 
make special studies respecting some of the more difficult problems 
presented. The schooner Grampus was detailed to investigate the 
offshore or purse-seine mackerel fishery from the time of its commence- 
ment at the extreme south, as had been done in former years, but in 
accordance with a more comprehensive plan of operations; an assis- 
tant was stationed at Fulton Market, New York, to inspect all mackerel 
brought there both by the purse-seiners and from the nets along the 
coast, the owners of many of the latter being also supplied with blanks 
on which to record their catch of this species; and the assistants 
at the Woods Hole station of the Commission were charged with the 
study of the breeding and other habits of the mackerel in the neigh- 
boring region, which is especially well adapted for observations of that 
kind. A party was also established at Eastport, Me., and another on 
Lake Erie, while the steamer Albatross was directed to investigate the 
boundary waters on the western coast at such times as her regular 
duties would permit. 
