172 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



consider a fair percentage more or less reliable. But, as a general rule, as everybody 

 knows, fishermen know less about fish than they do about anything else. That is to 

 say, they know how to catch fish and the practical details of their business, but of 

 their natural history they know very little. About such questions as the time of 

 their migration, the rate of their growth, their spawning seasons, and other matters 

 only here and there will you find a man who has observed and noted the facts closely 

 enough to be able to answer your questions. 



Q. You employed some such persons ? — A. I have one man especially, a skilled fish- 

 erman, resident on the south coast of New England, and whom I employ to visit the 

 different fishing stations and gather statistics. 



Q. Have you any of those circulars about you? — A. I have one. [Circular pro- 

 duced. 



Q. [Reading circular. ] There are something like nearly ninety different questions. 

 Under on»e head you require the man's name, &c. Then as to the distribution of 

 fishes: what kind of fish he has in his neighborhood, their abundance, migrations, 

 movements, food, relationships, reproduction, artificial culture, diseases, pursuits, 

 capture, their economical value, application, &c.— A. That circular was issued in 1871. 

 I have issued a great many editions of it. Then I have another circular which refers 

 more particularly to the coast and river fisheries. I have only issued this within the 

 present year. 



By Hon. Mr. Kellogg : 



Q. Was that about the time, Professor f— A. Yes ; the first thing I did was to dis- 

 tribute these questions in order to get as much information as I could. I have some 

 eight or ten special circulars, but these are the ones I have most used. I have issued 

 special circulars for the cod and mackerel and menhaden, but of these I have not copies 

 with me. 



By Mr. Dana : 



Q. Here [referring to circular spoken of as issued during the present year] you 

 have the home fisheries, the river fisheries; they don't come directly under our cog- 

 nizance.— A. These are the coast and river fisheries particularly. 



Q. Not the deep sea ?— A. Only incidentally. They are sea-coast fish, but not out- 

 side. There is a schedule of the principal fish marketed in the Boston market. My 

 object was to get the number of pounds of these fish taken in the vicinity of the per- 

 son to whom the circular was given. 



Q. You think these have been pretty fully answered ?— A. I have a great many an- 

 swers. 



Q. And from your information, which you gather as you go about, from what is 

 sent to you by the return of these circulars, and from the persons employed by you, 

 it has been your business to make yourself fully acquainted with the subject ?— A. 

 Yes ; I have, of course, used what published material I have found. I found a great 

 deal of value in the reports of the Canadian fisheries. What little I know of the fish- 

 eries in Canada I have learned from these documents. 



Q. Wherever there are documents published by the United States you have them ?— 

 A. Yes ; I have them ; and I have European documents, English, Norwegian, &c. I 

 believe I have everything. 



Q. I will question you first about codfish. I want you to state what is your opin- 

 ion about the cod as a fish for all sorts of commercial purposes, as compared with 

 others.— A. I think the cod stands at the head of fish at the present day. There is 

 no fish that furnishes food to so many people, the production of which is of so much 

 importance, or which is applied to such a variety of purposes. The commercial yield 

 is very great, and its capture is the main occupation of a large portion of the inhab- 

 itants of the sea-coast region of tho Northern Hemisphere. 



Q. Besides as an article of food, either fresh or salted, what other purposes does it 

 Berv e ?— A. Well, it is applied to a great -many purposes by different nations. It is 



