A REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES IN THE CONTIGUOUS WATERS 

 OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON AND BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



By Richard Rathbun, 

 Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. 



INTRODUCTION. 



From 1893 to 1896 the fisheries iu the boundary waters between 

 Canada and the United States were made the subject of inquiry by 

 an international commission, composed of Dr. William Wakeham, of 

 Ottawa, as the representative of Great Britain, and the writer acting 

 on behalf of this country. The interesting region at the western ter- 

 minus of the boundary line, where the fishing industry, though still 

 comparatively new, has already attained a marvelous development, was 

 ^■isited in the summer of 1895, and several weeks were spent in exam- 

 ining its principal features. The results of this investigation, so far as 

 they were directly pertinent to the objects of the commission, were 

 embodied in its report submitted to the two respective governments 

 on December 31, 1896.* Since then the writer has again gone over the 

 voluminous notes made in the field not only by Dr. Wakeham and him- 

 self but also by various parties of the United States Fish Commission, 

 including the work of the steamer AlbatrosSj and has consulted the 

 long series of reports published by the Canadian Department of Marine 

 and Fisheries. The present paper is based upon the materials derived 

 from these sources, and is limited in scope chiefly to those fishery 

 questions of the region which are of international concern. 



The fact most strikingly brought out in the assembling of these data 

 is the great paucity of accurate or detailed information regarding the 

 aquatic products of the region, such as is requisite in providing for 

 their preservation while still permitting them to be utilized without 

 needless interference. With exceptional opportunities for their study, 

 resulting from the fiivorable conditions of environment, the field is one 

 that would richly repay the inquiries of the naturalist and fishery 

 expert, if properly directed, in the practical benefits they promise. 

 After this explanation it is to be expected that the following pages will 

 prove more serviceable in pointing out lines of i)rofitable investigation 



* Message from the President of the United States relating to report of joint coin- 

 raissiontTs relative to the preservation of iisheries in waters contiguous to tlu^ United 

 .States and Canada. House of Representatives, Fifty-fourth Congress, second ses- 

 sion, Doc. No. 315, pp. 178, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1897. 



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