I. -THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 



PREPARED FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMIS- 

 SION HELD AT HALIFAX IN 1877.* 



By Spencer F. Baird. 



ANALYSIS, t 



Page. 



Introductory 13 



General considerations 17 



Ocean fisheries inexhaustible 17 



Advantages and evils of the sea fisheries 19 



Statistics of certain fisheries 20 



Meagerness of information 21 



Improvements in the business 23 



I.— Natural History. 



* Fishes considered separately or as species. 



General considerations in regard to species of food fishes 24 



A. Systematic lists of principal food and bait fishes and invertebrates of the 



easteru coast of the United States 25 



1. List of principal food and bait fishes 25 



2. List of invertebrates actually used for food and bait on a large scale. . 31 



3. List of invertebrates capable of being used for food and bait 32 



4. List of marine animals actually found in the stomachs of various 



fishes 34 



List of mollusks, &c, from stomachs of codfish 36 



List of mollusks, &c., from stomachs of haddock 38 



B. Biographical notices of the most important species 45 



** Fishes considered collectively or by groups. 



C. Relationships and surroundings 46 



(a) The inshore fish 46 



(b) The offshore fish 46 



(c) Pelagic fish 47 



(d) Deep-sea fish 47 



*This paper was mostly written in 1877 and 1S78, but its publication was deferred 

 by the author, in the hope of being able to prepare additional material, which seemed 

 essential to its completeness. The opportunity for this, however, nevt r occurred, and 

 his subsequent i'.lness, while the paper was going through the press, prevented liim 

 from ever examining the proofs. The accounts of the fishing-grounds and tlie iisbery 

 marine are additions to the original manuscript, the former being an abstract of a re- 

 port by J. W. Collins and Richard Rathbun, published in Section III of the Fisheries 

 and Fishery Industries of the United States, Washington, 1887; and tlie latter having 

 been taken from unpublished manuscript prepared by J. W. Collins. 



t This analysis Is somewhat fuller than the paper itself, the additional items repre- 

 senting points upon which information was considered desirable, but which time did 

 not permit the author to obtain. — Editor. 



3 



