THE FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
‘ By WiLu1AM A. WILCOX, 
Statistical Agent, United Slates Commission of Fish and Fisheries. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
In the years 1888 and 1889 the writer conducted a personal canvass 
of the fisheries of the Pacific Coast of the United States. Detailed 
statistics of the fishing industry were obtained, and descriptive notes 
on the history, apparatus, and methods of the fisheries, the abundance 
‘of the economic products, the fishing-grounds, etc., were secured. A 
‘report! embodying the results of that inquiry was published in the 
Report of the United States Fish Commissioner for 1888 and exten- 
‘sively distributed among the persons engaged in the fishing industry 
of that region. 
In 1892 the rapidly growing importance of the various fisheries of the 
Pacific States, as determined by the investigations in 1888 and 1889, 
appeared to warrant further attention, and, accordingly, in August of 
that year, the writer was again detailed for duty on that coast for the 
purpose of making another investigation of the commercial aspects of 
the fishing industry. The inquiries began on the Columbia River and 
were extended over the entire coasts of Washington, Oregon, and Cali- 
fornia, the canvass being completed in May, 1893. The accompanying 
‘report is based on the observations made and information gathered 
during that time. The detailed references to products, apparatus, 
methods, fishing-grounds, ete., in the previous report make unnecessary 
at this time any similar discussion. The text in the present paper is, 
therefore, intentionally brief, and is either explanatory of the statistics 
or is addressed to changes that have occurred in the industry since 
the last investigation. 
The years intervening between the two investigations will be recalled 
as those of more or less depression in nearly all kinds of business. A 
period of great commercial activity was followed by a marked decline 
in most branches, and many of the young cities of the west coast that 
had been giving employment to thousands of laborers and mechanics 
found their growth for the time checked. A general depression in other 
lines of trade has often had a beneficial effect on the fisheries, For lack 
‘Report on the Fisheries of the Pacific Coast of the United States. 269 pages; 
49 plates of fishes, apparatus, boats, vessels, fishing-grounds, etc. 
> i 143 
iy: 
