900 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
steam vessels in the market fisheries of the Pacific coast, especially 
those of San Francisco; the advantages that would accrue as the result 
of the adoption of steam carriers in certain Chesapeake Bay fisheries; 
and the necessity for welled vessels and boats in the shore fisheries of 
southern California. 
3. Review of the fisheries of the Great Lakes. (Report U.S. Fish Commission, 
XV, pp. 3-333, 44 plates.) 
This report is a geographical review of the entire fishing industry of 
the Great Lake system. The history, methods, condition, and statisties 
of the fisheries are considered by minor civil divisions; the fishermen, 
apparatus, vessels, boats, and fishing-grounds are described; notes on 
the natural history, abundance, movements, etc., of the commercial 
fishes are given; the methods of preserving and shipping the catch are 
discussed; the extent of the wholesale trade in fishery products in the 
principal cities is shown; the changes in the methods of the fisheries 
since 1880 are indicated; detailed comparisons are made with 1880; 
the effects of artificial propagation on the maintenance of the supply is 
considered; illustrations are presented of the types of boats, vessels, 
principal forms of apparatus, methods, and most of the important food- 
fishes, and a series of large charts indicates the position and number of 
pound nets operated. The fisheries of the Great Lakes, which are the 
most extensive lake fisheries in the world, are shown by the report to 
have given employment to 10,355 persons; the capital invested was 
$4,520,081; the quantity of. fish taken was 99,842,076 pounds, and the 
value of the catch to the fishermen was $2,691,866. An edition of 1,250 
copies of this report was distributed among the fishing interests of the 
Great Lakes. 
4. Notes on the crab fishery of Crisfield, Maryland. (Bulletin U. 8. Fish Com- 
mission, Ix, pp. 103-112, 6 plates.) 
The business of catching crabs, impounding them until after the 
shedding process, and of shipping them to market as soft-shell crabs, 
has in recent years attained considerable importanee in Chesapeake 
Bay. A special study of the industry was made at Crisfield in 1888, 
which formed the basis-for the remarks in this paper. Crisfield has 
the distinction of being the center of the most extensive crab-fishery 
in the United States, and the industry has of late years increased with 
wonderful rapidity. In 1888, 785 fishermen engaged in taking crabs in 
Crisfield and vicinity; 4,437,825 erabs were obtained, for which ‘the 
fishermen received $72,129. The dealers in Crisfield, to whom the 
entire catch is sold, shipped 3,782,057 crabs, the market value of which 
was $111,751. The difference between the number of crabs caught 
and the number sent to market, amounting to 655,766, represents the 
mortality among the crabs as a result of the molting process and inju- 
ries received when caught. 
