30 REPOKT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



than that, and at the close of the fiscal year an attempt was being made 

 by persons skilled in the methods used in the Mediterranean to take 

 the sponges by diving on the virgin deep-water beds far from shore. 

 Both sponge buyers and sponge fishermen are watching the results of 

 this work with considerable interest. 



STATISTICAL INQUIRIES AND REPORTS. 



The facilities of the Bureau do not permit the collection of fishery 

 statistics for the entire country every year, and it is therefore neces- 

 sary to limit the inquiries to particular regions each year, the various 

 groups of states being taken in turn. During 1905 the regular field 

 force of statistical agents completed the canvass of the fisheries of the 

 Great Lakes begun in May, 1904, and also took up and finished the 

 fisheries of the Misissippi River and its tributaries and Lake of the 

 Woods. Canvasses of the fisheries of the Middle Atlantic and Pacific 

 States were begun and were in progress at the close of the year. Local 

 agents at Boston and Gloucester, Mass., have obtained and submitted 

 statistics of the extensive vessel fisheries centering at those ports; this 

 information has been published in monthly bulletins and distributed 

 among the trade, and an annual bulletin embodying current and com- 

 parative statistics has been issued. Statistical reports on the fisheries 

 of the Gulf States, the South Atlantic States, and the interior waters 

 of New York and Vermont have also been published. 



SOME NEW FEATURES OF THE FISHING INDUSTRY. 



It is proper at this time to notice at length certain recent develop- 

 ments and aspects of the American fisheries which are destined to have 

 an important influence on the industry for many years to come. The 

 following notes, based on information obtained by the agents of the 

 Bureau, pertain to some of the leading branches of the fisheries on the 

 Atlantic and Pacific coasts. 



Purse seines in the bank cod fishery. — The introduction of the purse 

 seine in what is known as the salt bank fishery dates from April, 1904, 

 when the schooner Maxine Elliott, of Gloucester, sailed for Sable 

 Island equipped with a specially constructed purse seine and seine 

 boat for catching cod and pollock. In May and June these fish have 

 been observed to school in large numbers on the bars about Sable 

 Island and in the bends of the island, where it is usually very difficult 

 to take them with traw T ls, the fish often failing to notice the baited 

 hook owing to the abundance of live food. As is well known, the 

 native fishermen on the Labrador coast at certain times make fine 

 hauls with small seines, and it was this fact that first led the captain 

 of the Maxine Elliott to consider seriously the question of using a 

 purse seine in the salt bank cod fishery. It was obvious that if the 



