22 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
The members of the Commission, together with Mr. Venning and Dr. 
Smith, met at New York on June 2, where they began their inquiries 
respecting the mackerel fishery. From there they proceeded to Woods 
Hole, Mass., and thence visited all the more important fishing ports on 
Cape Cod. Subsequently a few days were spent in Boston and Glou- 
cester, Mass.,and Portland, Me. At all of these places interviews were 
held with the fishermen, the shore apparatus of capture was visited and 
many mackerel were examined. At the close of the fiscal year the 
party was at Eastport, Me., from which place it was planned to go to 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
OYSTER INVESTIGATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS. 
CHESAPEAKE BAY. 
The oyster survey of Mobjack Bay, begun in May, 1892, was continued 
during most of the following summer, being completed about August 
20. The delineation of the oyster beds and of the areas of scattered 
oysters in the open waters of the bay, by means of the launch Petrel, 
was finished early in July. The dredging work was then immediately 
taken up by the steamer Fish Hawk, Lieut. Robert Platt, U.S.N., 
commanding, having for its object to determine the actual condition of 
the oyster beds, including the number of oysters of different sizes to 
each square yard of bottom. Subsequently the steamer Fish Hawk 
proceeded to Tangier Sound, on the east side of Chesapeake Bay, 
where extensive investigations had been carried on the previous year, 
and repeated its lines of dredgings over the principal beds, in order to 
ascertain what, if any, changes had taken place in their condition 
during the intervening twelve months. While the dredging work was 
in progress the launch Petrel continued the oyster survey up the four 
rivers tributary to Mobjack Bay, the East, North, Ware, and Severn. 
Signal stations had first to be established, followed by a triangulation 
of the streams as far as was considered necessary, after which the 
location and extent of the natural oyster beds were determined. 
The assistants of the Fish Commission who were engaged upon this 
inquiry were Mr. John D. Battle, in charge, Mr. W. F. Hill, and Mr. 
B. L. Hardin. As soon as this party returned to Washington the 
construction of the charts to illustrate the results of the investigation, 
as well as the compilation of the data relating thereto, were pushed 
rapidly to completion, and copies of the same, together with the cor- 
responding charts of Tangier and Pocomoke sounds, based upon the 
surveys of 1891, were supplied, at an early date, to the government 
of Virginia, to serve as a basis for establishing the outlines of the 
public oyster-grounds in those parts of the State waters to which they 
related, after the manner described in the last annual report. A steam 
launch was also provided for the use of the State party engaged upon 
this work. That the assistance rendered by the United States Fish 
Commission in this connection was of great value to the State author- 
ities of Virginia and was duly appreciated by them may be judged from 
