142. REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Mr. Barton A. Bean was employed for ashort time in May and June 
in making inquiries respecting shad fisheries of the Susquehanna River 
in Dauphin and Lancaster counties, Pa. 
During the summer, Mr. Townsend, assistant in charge, visited the 
Pribilof Islands for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the 
fur-seal herd and the sealing industry located there. 
Capt. S. J. Martin and Mr. F. F. Dimick, local statistical agents of 
the division stationed at Gloucester and Boston, Mass., have submit- 
ted monthly reports on the quantity and value of certain fishery 
products landed at those ports by American vessels. 
The following single-sheet bulletins, containing advance statistics 
in condensed form, have been issued during the year: 
No. 17. Fisheries of the Great Lakes, 1899. 
No. 18. Statement of the quantity and values of certain fishery products Janded 
at Boston and Gloucester, Mass., by American fishing vessels during 
the year 1899. 
No. 19. Sponge fishery of Florida, 1900. 
No. 20. Fisheries of the Pacific coast, 1899. 
No. 107. Fisheries of the Mississippi River and tributaries, 1899. 
Additional bulletins showing the quantity and values of certain fish- 
ery products landed at Boston and Gloucester by American fishing 
vessels have been issued monthly as usual. 
’ The publications appearing during the year which emanated. from 
this division were: ‘‘Statistics of the fisheries of the New England 
States,” and ‘‘Statistics of the fisheries of the Middle Atlantic States.” 
A paper on the sturgeon fishery of the Delaware River and Bay, and 
one on the lobster fishery of Maine, were prepared by John N. Cobb. 
FISHERIES OF BOSTON AND GLOUCESTER. 
The important fisheries of these ports are reported upon monthly 
by local agents of the Commission. The total quantity of products 
landed by American vessels was 162,218,921 pounds, worth $4,385, 102. 
The returns for 1900, as compared with those of the previous year, 
show a decrease of 14,555,380 pounds and an increase in value of 
$191,450. The total number of fares was 7,513. 
At Boston there has been an increase in the quantity and value of 
products as compared with 1899, which is shown chiefly in the supply 
derived from banks off the New England coast. There has been a 
slight increase in the quantity and value of fresh fish, while the quan- 
tity and value of salt fish has been more than doubled. The total 
quantity of products landed at Boston was 66,820,912 pounds, valued 
at $1,598,506. The number of fares was 3,731, of which 203 were from 
the eastern banks and 3,528 from grounds off the New England coast. 
The fresh and salted fish from the eastern banks amounted to 9,786,500 
pounds, valued at $281,546, and from grounds off the New England 
coast, 57,034,412 pounds, valued at $1,516,960. 
There were 95,398,009 pounds of fish landed at Gloucester, valued 
