REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 199 
ANALYSIS OF REPORTS ISSUED. 
While the number of reports prepared by the division and printed 
during the years covered by this report was not large, several of them 
were very extensive and were important contributions to the subjects 
considered. Several other papers dealing with the commercial fish- 
eries were prepared and submitted for printing in this period, but they 
were not issued until after the close, of the period under consideration. 
The reports printed were as follows: 
1. The beam-trawl fishery of Great Britain, with notes on beam-trawling in 
other European countries. (Bulletin U.S. Fish Commission, vi, pp. 289-407, 
23 plates, 34 text figures.) 
This report deals with the most important vessel fishery of Great 
Britain. Special chapters treat of the history and importance of the 
fishery, the fishing-grounds, the fishermen, the vessels, the apparatus, 
the methods of fishing, marketing of the catch, the effects of the fish- 
ery on the abundance of fish, beam trawling on the continent of Europe, 
attempts to use the trawl in the United States, and the possibility of 
its successful employment in this country. Some idea may be gained 
of the extent of this fishery when it is stated that about 20,000 persons 
find exclusive employment therein, and that the annual production is 
about 450,000,000 pounds, having a value of over $13,000,000, a sum 
that represents more than one-third the value of the entire coast and 
inland fisheries of the United States. 
2. Suggestions for the employment of improved types of vessels in the market 
fisheries, with notes on British fishing steamers. (Bulletin U. S. Fish 
Commission, Vii, pp. 175-192, 10 plates.) 
The recent improvements in the methods of preserving fish in a 
fresh condition, and inshipping them to distant points, have demon- 
strated the necessity for securing the more rapid landing of the fish 
atter being caught, in order that they may reach the consumer in the 
best possible state of preservation. The greatest amount of deteriora- 
tion ensues between the taking and the landing of the fish, and it is 
the reduction to a minimum of this impairment in quality which is 
demanded by the present conditions of the fresh-fish trade. To secure 
this result, an improvement in the form of the fishing vessels is the 
principal consideration, and in this report the special types of vessels 
adapted to different fisheries and to particular regions are indicated, 
described, and figured. Speed and seaworthiness are the main lines 
along which advances may be made in the building of fishing vessels; 
the possession of these factors will not only secure the landing of an 
improved quality of fish and the economy of time, but will also per- 
mit vessels to visit the more distant and less frequented grounds and 
thus perhaps add to the amount of thecatch. The specially important 
subjects considered in the paper are the desirability of employing 
steamers in the market fishery of New England; the urgent need of 
