REPORT ON STATISTICS AND METHODS -OF THE FISHERIES. 
By A. B. ALEXANDER, Assistant in Charge. 
SUMMARY OF THE WORK. 
The work of this division during 1904 included a statistical canvass 
of the salmon fisheries of Alaska for the years 1901, 1902, and 1903, 
and of the salmon-canning industry of Washington, Oregon, and Cali- 
fornia for the season of 1903; an investigation of the fisheries of the 
South Atlantic and Gulf States for 1902, including inquiries into the 
alligator and otter industries of the interior waters of Florida; a can- 
vass of the New England fisheries and those of the interior waters of 
New York and Vermont for 1902; of the Hawaiian Islands for 1903, 
and of the shad and alewife fisheries of North Carolina for the season 
of 1904. At the close of the year an investigation of the Great Lakes 
fisheries was in progress, and a study of the fishery products on exhi- 
bition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition had been undertaken. 
These inquiries were conducted through the regular corps of statisti- 
cal field agents. Monthly returns of the quantity and value of the fish 
caught and landed at Boston and Gloucester, Mass., by American ves- 
sels have been submitted by local agents. The results of the various 
canvasses are summarized in the following pages, and a detailed report 
on the fisheries of the interior waters of New York and Vermont is in 
course of publication. In addition to the usual monthly bulletins of 
fishery products landed at Boston and Gloucester, the following have 
been issued by the division during the year: 
No. 145. Statement of the quantities and values of certain fishery products landed 
at Boston and Gloucester, Mass., by American vessels during the year 1903. * 
No. 147. Fisheries of the Gulf States, 1902. 
No. 149. Fisheries of the South Atlantic States, 1902. 
No. 151. Fisheries of the New England States, 1902. 
