AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 53 



Chesn])eake foi' the inanufacluic oi int'iiliadcii oil and for- 

 tilizei's. 



In the menhaden or aknvif<' fisheries of the T'nited States 

 Marvhiiid holds first place as to the number of fisliermen em- 

 ployed, tlie anionnt of (•a])ifal invested and the number of *;ill- 

 nets, boats and trajjs. The number of the catch in the Ignited 

 States in 1S0(; was nearly 148.()()0,(M)(>, weishinj;- (12,000,()()() 

 pounds and valued at .f4r)<),«;0(). There are |2(;,()(l(> invested in 

 the alewife fisheries of .Maryland. In 189G 17,n07.:{ir> pounds 

 were taken, valued at |1lM;.()jO. or more than one-fourth of the 

 value of the entire catch of the United States. 



The bay mackerel or Spanish mackerel, as it is often called, 

 is known to our people as the bay mackerel. It is stated that 

 many of our fishermen had never seen this fish prior to 1875. 

 It is one of the choice food fishes of the nation. In 1880 

 Earl discovered that one of its chief breeding- grounds was the 

 Chesapeake Bay. It lays its eggs in the summer, each female 

 depositing from 20,000 to 60.000 eggs. They are so small that 

 there are 20,000 in a cubic inch. They float upon the surface 

 of the water until hatched. The chief supply of our bay mack- 

 erel are caught with gill-nets or trapped in pounds. 



We might say much more about the many other good fishes 

 of Maryland: the perch, the bass, the trout, etc., but our paper 

 is getting lengthy and we do not want to become tiresome. 

 Many other varieties of choice and commercially valuable food 

 fishes abound in onr waters, famous as well for their extreme 

 delicacy as for their abundance: the fine blue fish of the coast, 

 the sea trout and striped bass, pike, white and yellow perch. 



Too much cannot be said in praise of the Chesapeake Bay 

 and the rivers of Maryland, of the great opportunities for de- 

 velopment and for the increase of the wealth of our people 

 from the fisheries. 



We have these splendid natural resources, and we hope and 

 believe that the time will soon come when Maryland shall take 

 her proper place in the great work of the artificial propagation 

 of fish. 



Our Fish Commission is not so old as some, nor has it the 

 means at command for investigation, research and experiment, 

 which it needs, but we believe that in the near future the 

 people of Maryland will fully realize the great and growing 

 importance of this great work, and that all necessary money 

 will be appropriated for the work of the Commission to give it 

 the place its importance demands, and that the fisheries of our 

 State will then be second to none among the great fish pro- 

 ducing States of the Union; that then the large and valuable 

 water area will be a far greater producer of wealth for our 

 people than at the present time. We must have a great ad- 



