1140 REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISIIERILS. [2] 



published upon "The Aims and Limitations of Modem Fish Culture," 

 recently presented to the Biological Society of Washington, and in an 

 address upon "The Fishery Industries of the United States," delivered 

 June 25, 1883, at the London Fisheries Exhibition, the writer Las con- 

 sidered from various points of view the history of fish culture in America, 

 and, what constitutes a very considerable part of this toi>iq, the history 

 of the United States Fish Commission. It is proposed in this essay to 

 bring the discussion down to the present time, and to show, by quota- 

 tions from recognized Old- World authorities, that the opinions which the 

 writer has expressed in the past and now reaffirms are shared by others 

 Avho have better right to opinions than he.* 



2. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE U. S. FISH COMMISSION. 



On the 9th of February, 1871, Congress passed a joint resolution which 

 authorized the appointment of a Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. 

 The duties of the Commissioner were thus defined: "To prosecute iu- 



* It has been the good fortune of the ■writer to be intimately acquainted with the 

 woi'k of the United States Fish Commission ever since its organization, and to have 

 served in its ranks as a volunteer upon many occasions. In 1871 a private natural 

 liistory excursion on the coast of Southern Massachusetts afforded the opportunity of 

 iu.specling the work, then in its first year's organization, from the outside. In 1872 

 and 1873, at Eastport and Portland, as an officer of a New England college ; in 1874, 

 at Noank ; in 1875, at Wood's HoU, working in behalf of the Government Board of 

 tlie Centennial Exhibition; in 1877, as statistical expert in behalf of the State De- 

 partment, at Halifax; in 1878, in behalf of the National Museum, at Gloucester, he was 

 one of the parly at the coast stations, taking more or less active part in the marine 

 (Xplorations, according as his other engagements would permit. From 1879 to the 

 beginning of 1881 he was in the eni]tloy of the Superintendent of the Tenth Census, 

 in charge of the division of fishery statistics. .Since 1875 the Commissioner of Fish- 

 eries has from time to time intrusted him with the conduct of special investigations, 

 the results of which have been published in the official reports. In 1880 at the In- 

 ternational Fisheries Exhibition in Berlin, and in 1883 upon a similar occasion at 

 London, it was his privilege, through Presidential appointment, to represent in the 

 capacity of United States commissioner the fishery interests of the nation, including 

 the work of the United States Fish Commission and the fish commissions of the sev- 

 eral States. During these fourteen years of relationship to the work he has never 

 held any direct official relationship to the Commissioner of Fisheries, nor, so far as he 

 can remember, has he ever received a week's salary from the Fish Commission appro- 

 priation; his connection with the work having always been that of a volunteer, 

 except so far as his duties in connection with the National JVIuseum, Census, State 

 Department, or the various international exhibitions have carried him into the routine 

 of the Commission work. 



These facts are mentioned simidy to explain the stand-point from which it is i)ro- 

 posed in this review, to consider the career of the Commission, this stand-point be- 

 ing that of an outside observer, whose work for some time ])ast has been entirely 

 ^separate from that of the Commission, but who, by reason of his familiarity with the 

 'history and interior workings of the service, is an enthusiastic supporter of, and be- 

 liever in, the work, and who has had opportunities to observe what European Govern- 

 ments have done in their efforts to grapple with the fisheries problem, and how the 

 operations of our Government are looked upon by the statesmen and economists in 

 ■other lands. 



