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FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



The three schedules are prepared for the purpose of collecting 

 statistics which will enable the office to make a separate presenta- 

 tion of data for shore fisheries, for vessel fisheries, and canning or 

 packing establishments, respectively, the totals for each branch of 

 the industry to be presented by states. Therefore it is important 

 that separate reports be prepared; if, however, two or more branches 

 are conducted under the same ownership and it is impossible to 

 secure separate reports, a consolidated report may be prepared, but 

 in such cases a full description of the conditions must be given 

 under "Remarks" on the last page of the schedule and percentages 

 furnished which will enable the office to make the separation if 

 necessary. Great care must be taken to avoid duplication of sta- 

 tistics in the preparation of the separate reports. 



Districts and lists. The entire country has been divided into 

 districts and one or more special agenta will be assigned to each dis- 

 trict. Before starting the canvass each agent must know the extent 

 of his district, and must not visit points outside his district without 

 specific directions to do so. Each agent will be held accountable for 

 a thorough and rapid canvass of the district to which he has been assigned. 

 To assist in locating the fisheries, vessels, and establishments to be 

 canvassed, each agent will be furnished with 



1. List of localities where fishing is conducted. 



2. List of vessels. 



3. Index card for each vessel. 



4. List of canneries, etc. 



5. Index card for each cannery. 



The number at the top of the index card must be written in the 

 upper right-hand corner of the schedule and the card must accom- 

 pany the schedule when it is sent to the office. When an establish- 

 ment is to be omitted or a cross reference is to be made, the card 

 with an explanatory note on it should be sent to the office with the 

 daily report. The index numbers of all cards accompanying the 

 daily report should be given in the left-hand margin of the daily 

 report. The list of fishing vessels includes the name and address 

 of the owner in each case, and the agent will find that these addresses 

 include many localities not included in the list of localities. It is 

 expected that the agent will be able to secure the reports for most 

 of the vessels at the fishing grounds or fishing ports, and will there- 

 fore confine himself to his list of localities until he has secured as 

 many of the reports as possible, after which the owners of the remain- 

 ing vessels should be visited. This is a general rule and may be 

 waived by the agent if he finds he can conduct the canvass more 

 economically and advantageously otherwise. He should, of course, 

 secure reports from all fishermen in or surrounding a given locality, 

 so as to avoid revisiting the same neighborhood. The lists are not 

 complete and must not be accepted as representing all of the localities 

 nor all of the interests to be enumerated. As the lists were obtained 

 from records that are several years old, the accuracy of the canvass 

 will depend to a very large degree on the diligence of the agents, 

 and they should constantly be on the alert to discover other points 

 at which fishing is conducted and other establishments engaged in 

 the fishing industry. Every name on the agent's list, however, 

 must be accounted for; if a vessel or establishment has changed 

 ownership or gone out of existence, the name and a memorandum 

 of the facts must be given on the agent's daily report. 



Each agent will be furnished with a statement of the order in 

 which he will be expected to visit the different points in his district. 

 This order should be followed unless the agent finds that railroad 

 connections and local conditions make a change advisable. In 

 such a case the character and necessity of the change must be stated 

 on the agent's daily report. 



Method of canvassing. It is recognized that the fishing industry 

 differs from all other industries covered by the census, in that it is 

 not conducted during the entire year, and that there are many 

 small unimportant operators. While it is essential that a thorough 

 canvass be made of the industry, the special agent must exercise 

 discretion in securing reports of the operations of the small fisher- 

 men and those who are absent at the time of the visit. 



On entering a locality where shore fishing is conducted, the agent 

 should first obtain from the principal fishermen and fish dealers a 



complete list of the fishermen in that vicinity. A rapid canvass 

 should then be made of, and reports obtained from, the fishermen 

 in the immediate vicinity. As these reports are obtained, inquiries 

 should be made regarding fishermen who are absent or who are not 

 easily accessible, and partial reports prepared for them. These 

 partial reports should be corrected if better information is afterwards 

 obtained from dealers or other fishermen. When reports for prac- 

 tically all of the fishermen have been prepared, the agent, instead 

 of making visits to unimportant points in the neighborhood or wait- 

 ing for other fishermen to return, should complete the canvass of the 

 locality by the use of the estimates he has obtained . The operations 

 of a group of fishermen may be included in one schedule if an accu- 

 rate estimate of the entire catch can be obtained. The estimated 

 reports should, if possible, be the result of interviews with more 

 than one person, so as to avoid the possibility of exaggerated state- 

 ments, and should contain under "Remarks" a statement of the 

 conditions under which they were obtained. 



In cases where reports are prepared in the manner suggested 

 in the preceding paragraph the agent will probably find it neces- 

 sary to retain all or some of the schedules for a locality until he 

 leaves the vicinity, so that if better information shall be obtained 

 after the report has been wholly or partially prepared he can sub- 

 stitute it, and so that he can avoid duplication in the reports. If 

 the schedules are thus retained to be sent in later, a memorandum 

 should be made on each schedule showing the date of the daily 

 report on which it was reported. 



In visiting a locality the agent should not ask "Is there any 

 commercial fishing here?" but he should ask " Was there any fishing 

 here during 1908?" There are localities where fishing is carried 

 on at certain seasons only, and at the time the agent calls there 

 may be no one fishing. Cases will be found where shore fishermen 

 live in one state and fish in the waters of another state. For 

 example, shore fishermen living in New Jersey may go into Vir- 

 ginia waters at a certain season to fish. In such cases the fishing 

 must be reported by both the agent in Virginia and the agent in 

 New Jersey. When the report covers operations in different states, 

 full explanation must be made under "Remarks" on the last 

 page of the schedule. This explanation must give the names or 

 description of the different localities in which the fishing covered 

 by the schedule was carried on and the quantity of the catch in 

 each locality. 



In preparing reports for a number of fishermen operating out 

 of the same port, care must be taken to avoid duplication. Each 

 schedule must be complete and distinct, so that a uniform tabula- 

 tion can be made in the office. 



It is especially difficult to obtain statistics for fishing vessels 

 that are absent from the home ports for considerable periods. 

 For this reason it will generally be advisable to obtain reports for 

 the fishing vessels of a locality first, and while the shore fisheries 

 and establishments are being enumerated other vessels may come 

 in. There are comparatively few ports from which such vessels 

 operate, and the special agents must resort to every possible means 

 to obtain information concerning them. 



If an agent finds that the canvass of a district to which he has 

 been assigned can not be finished because vessels operating from 

 points in it are out at the fishing grounds, he should not remain 

 indefinitely in the district, but must advise the office of the 

 probable number and size of the vessels from which he has not 

 been able to obtain reports, and await instructions. However, if 

 he is satisfied from inquiry that the vessels are comparatively 

 unimportant, he should obtain all available information concerning 

 them, prepare for each a partial report containing the name and 

 address of the owner, the name, net tonnage, and value of the vessel, 

 and general information concerning the character and extent of 

 the catch, and forward same to the office with proper letter of 

 explanation. The necessity of remaining in a locality awaiting 

 the return of vessels is left largely to the discretion of the agent. 



Remote localities. While the entire country bordering on waters 

 from which commercial fishing operations can be carried on must 

 be covered, agents may find that some fishing operations are carried 



