60 _ REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
10. The sentiment and experience of the fishermen on the questions of (a) close 
season, (b) taking of small lobsters, (c) taking of molting lobsters, (d) effects of 
canneries on abundance, (e) results of protection, etc. 
11. The extent of the practice of impounding short, molting, or other lobsters; 
the mortality among the impounded lobsters; the size and location of the pounds; 
the object an:l results of the procedure. 
12. The extent, methods, ete., of the lobster-canning industry. 
The inquiry regarding the clam fishery included a consideration af 
the extent of the bait business, one of the most important branche 
of the fisheries on certain parts of the New England coast. 
The oyster industry, which has great importance in Rhode Islan 
and Connecticut and in places on the southern coast of Massachusetts, 
was studied in detail, the inquiries being addressed to the extent of th 
planting industry, the methods followed in the cultivation of oysters, 
the sources and quantities of the seed oysters utilized, the areas o 
bottom occupied for planting purposes, and other questions havin 
practical relation to the industry. 
Provision was made for canvassing in their entirety the fisheries o 
that part of the coast of eastern Maine adjoining the Canadian province 
of New Brunswick, in view of the pending consideration by the Inter- 
national Fisheries Commission of the fisheries of the contiguous waters 
of the United States and Canada. The branches here prosecuted are 
the herring, lobster, salmon, alewife, and pollock fisheries, and sardine 
and lobster canning. 
THE PACIFIC STATES. 
Coincident with the inauguration of the field canvass in the Middle 
Atlantic States, the investigation of the fishing industry of the Pacific 
States was undertaken. Mr. W. A. Wilcox, the agent who in 1888 and 
1889 had conducted an inquiry regarding the fisheries of this section, 
was again detailed for this work because of his extended acquaintance 
with the fishing population and his wide experience with the fisheries 
of the entire west coast. A report based on the previous inquiry was 
printed as an appendix to the report of the Commissioner for 1888. 
Mr. Wilcox left Washington August 10, 1892, and proceeded to 
Portland, Oreg., with instructions to first canvass the Columbia River 
and then visit such parts of the coast as circumstances or expediency 
might require. It was important that the extensive salmon fishery of: 
the Columbia, which was suspended by law on the 10th of August, 
should receive attention before the fishermen had scattered and the 
canneries had finally closed, and while the memory of the principal) 
phases of the season’s work was fresh in the minds of the canners and 
fishermen. After the completion of the work on the Columbia River, 
Portland was made headquarters while canvassing the fisheries of the 
remaining parts of Oregon and Washington. The inquiry in those’ 
States was completed about the middle of December, and the agent’ 
then proceeded to San Francisco, Cal., where the investigation of that 
State was inaugurated about December 20. The inquiry was completed | 
on May 11, and Mr. Wilcox returned to Washington. 
