REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. 
A.—GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 
1.—INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
The present report is intended to give an account of the work of the 
United States Fish Commission during the year 1880; closing, as it 
does, the first decade of its existence. Originally organized by Con- 
gress simply for the purpose of making investigations into the condi- 
tion of the fisheries of the sea-coast and lakes, the subject of the actual 
increase of the food-fishes of the country by means of artificial propa- 
zation was added in the second year of its existence, thus establishing 
a twofold function. 
In each department the labor has increased year by year in propor- 
tion to the increasing favor shown by Congress, until, at the end of the 
decade in question, its work has become of pre-eminent magnitude 
among similar organizations throughout the world, the results, it is 
hoped, being in equal proportion. What the future may have in store 
for the Commission of course cannot be anticipated at present. Should 
its scope and importance inerease within the next ten years as it has 
in the past, it will constitute a very important element of the opera- 
tions of the Government looking towards the amelioration of the con- 
dition of the country at large. 
The most noteworthy features of the year may be indicated as follows: 
1. The production of the German carp in large numbers, and their 
distribution to the various parts of tine country. 
2. The production of shad on an inereasing scale, and their dissemi- 
nation in numerous localities where they were previously unknown. 
3. The construction of a special steamer (the Fish Hawk) to serve as 
a floating hatching-house for the production of shad, herring, striped 
bass, ete., and which is capable of being moved to any place where the 
breeding fish can be found in sufficient quantity. 
4, The introduction to the notice of the American fishermen, and the 
use on a large scale, of the gill-net with glass-ball floats, for the pur- 
pose of capturing codfish on their winter spawning-ground. 
5. The co-operation with the United States Census Bureau in obtain- 
ing the history and statistics of the North American fisheries. 
6. The preparation of the American exhibit for participation in the 
International Fisheries Exhibition at Berlin. 
S. Mis. 2 XVII 
