SIXTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 23 



At the conclusion of Mr. Ito's remarks, a vote of thanks was 

 accorded him for his very interesting statements of the fisheries 

 of a country of which we know so little, but which has made such 

 rapid strides in acquiring the knowledge possessed by what a 

 few years ago was an outside world to it. It is interesting to 

 note, how closely all foreign methods have been copied by these 

 exceedingly intelligent people, as soon as their ports had been 

 opened to tlie world. 



Mr. Earll then made the following remarks upon the changes 

 and conditions of fish-culture, and the duties of fish commision- 

 ers under the new c.onditions, which were also taken down by 

 Mr. O'Connor. 



STATE FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



KY K. EDWARD EARLL. 



Mr. President — I do not intend to occupy tiie time of the So- 

 ciety with a paper, but it has occurred to me that this would be 

 an excellent opportunity to bring to the attention of its members 

 a matter, the importance of which, has been growing upon me for 

 some time, namely: the changed condition of the duties of Com- 

 missioners of Fisheries. During the past few years it has been 

 the one great and sole aim of all the Commissioners to hatch out 

 and plant in the waters of their respective States as many fish of 

 the different kinds as it was possible for them to hatch and dis- 

 tribute, with the means placed at their disposal ; but we find 

 that the time is rapidly approaching when it will become ne- 

 cessary for the officials to present to their respective govern- 

 ments, or to the appropriation committees of said governments, 

 a clear and concise statement of all that is being accomplished 

 with tlie money appropriated for fish-cultural work. 



There has thus far been very little effort on the part of most 

 of the States, and until recently upon the part of the general 

 government, to obtain definite and detailed information regard- 

 ing the extent and value of the fisheries of the various localities. It 

 is, in my judgment, especially important that each Commissioner 



