2o0 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [6] 



shad aud salmon— these, being- the principal species— are being placed 

 in the head- waters of streams in all sections of the country in vast num- 

 bers; aud the Government, through its engineer department, is engaged 

 at the same time in erecting obstructious that render all this work of 

 no avail, so far as those sections of country are concerned that lie above 

 the obstructious ; and these are often vast sections. Now, 1 am con- 

 vinced that if we permit the fish to reach their spawning grounds by 

 removing, or by providing the means to enable them to pass, the obstruc- 

 tions which year by year are contracting the breeding areas of the shad 

 aud the salmon, and thus restore to them the range that they had be- 

 fore we put obstructions in the rivers, we will accomplisli as much year 

 by year by natural means as we are now accomplishing by artificial, 

 and it would therefore ap])ear to be a proper suggestion for the com- 

 mittee to make in this connection that ichenever the pious for ihc im- 

 prorement of the narujation of eniy of ovr rivem contemplate the erection 

 of ohstrnctio)i.s which irill intercept the passage of fish ^ the enginepv in 

 charge of S2ieh improvement shall he instructed in his plans and estimates 

 to provide for suitable fish ic(tgs, to he erected in accordance icifh jilans pre- 

 scribed by the United KStates Commission of Fish and Fisheries. 



If the general Government will set the example by providing suitable 

 fishways over the obstructions now erected, or to be erected, in our 

 navigable rivers, the good results will be soon apparent. The several 

 States will follow the example set, and the areas of i)roduction thus re- 

 covered will determine a permanent increase in the productive capacity 

 of the river. 



There is not a State in wliicli there are not already in existence numer- 

 ous dams which effectually bar the ascent of the sliad and the salmon to 

 their spawning grounds. They are erected by the Government in con- 

 nection with plans for im])roving the navigation of our inland waters. 

 Until effectual means are provided ior the passage of fish over them, they 

 are a standing menace to the per[>etuity of our valuable river fisheries. 



THE SEA FISHERIES. 



In dealing with the salt-water or sea fisheries it is important to keep 

 clearly in our miuds the fact that all the great fisheries of the world are 

 prosecuted during the breeding or spawning season of the fish— the her- 

 ring fisheries everywhere, the cod fisheries, and in part the mackerel fish- 

 eries. We should also keep in view the fsjct that the results of exten- 

 sive observations by numerous observers point to the conclusion, that 

 the spawning grounds of the salt-water species are just as definitely 

 localized in the ocean as are the spawning grounds of the shad and 

 herring in our rivers. 



The influence of the great ocean currents and of meteorological con- 

 ditions reacting upon the temperature of the water is such as to define 

 and circumscrib./ geographically areas of water in which suitable con- 



