798 



UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



summary of the present condition of the vari- 

 ous departments of work. The publications of 

 the commission up to 1884 include 9,296 pages, 

 besides 2,39V pages of the Bulletins of the Na- 

 tional Museum. In Mr. 0. W. Smiley 's list, 

 which extended to August, 1883, 1,077 papers 

 are mentioned, and this list does not include 

 nearly all of those pertaining to the work 

 which have been printed in outside journals. 



History of Yearly Work. The following sum- 

 mary of the annual work of the commission is 

 expanded from a paper entitled "The First 

 Decade of the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion," read before the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, at iis Boston 

 meeting in 1880 : 



1871, The commissioner, with a party of zoolo- 

 gists, established the first summer-station at Wood's 

 Holl, Mass., other assistants being engaged in a simi- 

 lar work at Cape Hatteras and on the great lakes. He 

 also personally investigated the alleged decrease of 

 the fisheries in southern New England, taking the 

 testimony of numerous witnesses. 



1872, The summer-station was at Eastport, Me., 

 particular attention being paid to the herring-fisher- 

 ies. The survey of the great lakes was continued. 

 Dredging, under the direction of Prof. Packard, was 

 begun on the off-shore banks. At the instance of the 

 American Fish - cultural Association, Congress re- 

 quested the commissioner to take charge of the work 

 of multiplying valuable food-fishes throughout the 

 country. Work was begun on the shad, salmon, and 

 white-fish, and the eggs of the European salmon were 

 imported. 



1873, The summer - headquarters were fixed at 

 Portland, Me. The opportunities lor research were 

 greatly increased by the aid of the Secretary of the 

 Navy, who granted the use of an eighty -ton steamer. 

 Explorations in the outer waters, between Mount Des- 

 ert and Cape Cod, were carried on in the United 

 States coast-surveying steamer Bache. Operations 

 in fish-culture were carried on upon an extensive 



1874-'75, In 1874 the zoological work centered at 

 Noank, Conn. The attempt was made to introduce 

 shad into Europe. In 1875 the station was for a sec- 

 ond time at Wood's Holl, where a permanent sea-side 

 laboratory, with aquaria, was now established. The 

 number of investigations this year was about twenty. 

 The increase in the propagation-work was proportion- 

 ately much larger. 



1876. The commissioner was unable to take the 

 field for fishery investigations, having been instructed 

 to exhibit, in behalf of the commission, the fishes and 

 useful invertebrates, as well as the methods of fish- 

 culture and the American fisheries, at the Philadel- 

 phia International Exhibition. Much, however, was 

 accomplished by single investigators in various locali- 

 ties. The propagation- work continued. This year 

 the first carp were introduced from Germany. 



1877, The field of investigation was resumed at 

 Salem, Mass., and later at Halifax, N. S. A larger 

 steamer, of 300 tons, made deep-sea research possible. 

 The commissioner and his staff served as experts be- 

 fore the Halifax Fishery Commission. The propa- 

 gating work was on the increase, and the Government 

 carp-ponds were established in Washington. 



1878-'79. In 1878 the summer-station was at Glou- 

 cester, Mass., in 1879 at Provincetown. These cen- 

 ters of the fishing interests were selected that more 

 attention might be devoted to studying the history, 

 statistics, and methods of the sea-fisheries ; a plan for 

 the systematic investigation which seemed yearly 

 more necessary, in view of the dissensions between 

 the Governments of the United States and Great 

 Britain. In 1879 a combination was formed with the 



Superintendent of the Tenth Census, by which the 

 commissioner was enabled to carry forward this 

 branch of the work more rapidly. Specialists were 

 dispatched to all parts of the country, to study the 

 biological, statistical, and practical aspects of the 

 fisheries. In 1878 the breeding of cod and haddock 

 was accomplished at Gloucester. In 1879 the propa- 

 gation of the oyster was accomplished, by co-opera- 

 tion with the Maryland Commission, under the direc- 

 tion of Maj. Ferguson, and the distribution of the 

 carp throughout the country was begun. 



1880, The summer- station was at Newport, E. I. 

 The Fish-Hawk, a steamer of 484 tons, constructed 

 expressly for the work, lies at the wharf, now equipped 

 for scientific research, later to be employed in the 

 propagation of sea-fish, such as the cod and the mack- 

 erel. Over fifty investigators are in the field in the 

 service of the commission. The season was opened 

 by the participation of the commission in the Inter- 

 national Exhibition at Berlin. The first- honor prize, 

 the gift of the Emperor of Germany, was awarded to 



1881. The summer-station was at Wood's Holl, 

 Mass. The investigation of the area of distribution 

 and the economical qualities of the tile-fish was one 

 of the practical results of the work of th'e season. A 

 railway-car was constructed for the express purpose 

 of distributing fish, and an entire change was effected 

 in the methods of fish transportation. Experiments 

 were made in hatching cod and Spanish mackerel, and 

 in the retardation of the development of shad-eggs. 

 Land was acquired at Wood's Holl for a permanent 

 station for hatching cod and other sea-fishes and for 

 general biological research. The publication of the 

 ''Bulletin" of the Fish Commission was begun. 

 Fishery bulletins were issued relative to the fisheries 

 of the Pacific Coast States, the Great Lakes, Maine, 

 Virginia, and the oyster industry. 



1882. The summer-station was again at Wood's 

 Holl, and the explorations of the Fish-Hawk from this 

 place were conducted mainly in the Gulf Stream, re- 

 sulting in the acquisition of much valuable material 

 and information. Congress appropriated money for 

 building a pier in Great Harbor, Wood's Holl. The 

 Armory station in Washington was fitted up for hatch- 

 ing enormous quantities of eggs of food-fishes, and 

 railroad-tracks were laid within the inclosure, so that 

 the Fish Commission cars can be loaded from the 

 doors of the hatchery. The white-fish hatchery at 

 Alpena, Mich., was established ; $50,000 was appro- 

 priated for the representation of the United States at 

 the London Fisheries Exhibition, under the charge of 

 the United States Fish Commission. The station for 

 rearing California trout at Wytheville, Va., and that 

 for propagation of the oyster at St. Jerome's creek, 

 Md., passed into the possession of the Government. 

 The fishery census of 1880 was practically completed. 

 Congress ordered the publication of a report on Ameri- 

 can fish and fisheries. The disappearance of the 

 tile-fish in the North Atlantic was demonstrated. The 

 steamer Albatross was completed. 



1883. Wood's Holl, Mass., was again occupied as a 

 summer-station, and the deep-sea investigations of the 

 Albatross, begun off Chesapeake Bay early in the sea- 

 son, were continued from this place with surprising 

 results. The United States exhibit in London in charge 

 of the commissioner, Mr. G. Brown Goode, was suc- 

 cessful over all other competitors, owing mainly to 

 the participation of the Fish Commission and the Na- 

 tional Museum. The feasibility of the artificial rear- 

 ing of oysters was shown by Mr. J. A. Eyder, Em- 

 bryologist of the Commission, at Chincoteague Bay, 

 Md. The distribution of fishes was enormously in- 

 creased. 



Work at the Principal Stations. The hatchery 

 at North ville, Mich., was established in 1874 

 by N. W. Clark. In 1880 it passed into the 

 control of the United States Fish Commission, 

 and continued under the care of Frank N. 



