THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF FISHERIES 
AT VIENNA, 1905. 
BY HUGH M. SMITH. 
The Third International Fishery Congress convened at 
Vienna in June, 1g05, under the patronage of the Austrian Fish- 
ery Society—a large, flourishing, and influential body which 
celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary during the meeting of the 
congress. 
The plan for holding international fishery congresses at reg- 
ular intervals originated at Paris during the exposition of 1900, 
when the first congress was held. The second congress met at 
St. Petersburg two vears ago. I| had the privilege of attending 
both the Paris and Vienna congresses as the representative of 
the United States Government. 
The president of the Vienna congress was Prof. Dr. Franz 
Steindachner, of Vienna, one of the foremost ichthyologists and 
the director of the admirable natural history museum of that 
city. The attendance was large, nearly 400 delegates being 
present; and the foremost fishery and fish-cultural authorities 
and workers in Europe were present. About twenty countries 
were represented, although there were some conspicuous ab- 
sentees. Most of the European countries had official delegates, 
although the governments of such important fishing powers as 
Great Britain, France, and Norway had no representatives. 
From the far-distant British colonies of Australia and India 
special delegates were sent. The great western hemisphere 
made a poor showing; besides the United States, the only coun- 
tries represented were olr progressive sister republics, Argen- 
tina and Chili. 
It is not necessary to refer in detail to the proceedings of 
the congress. Suffice it to say that the papers and discussions 
covered a very wide range of subjects; and it was the general 
opinion that the meeting was more successful and important 
than either of its predecessors. 
Armed with authority from the Commissioner of Fisheries 
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