REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
XI 
INQUIRY RESPECTING FOOD-FISHES AND THE FISHING-GROUNDS. 
The investigation of the character and resources of the fishing- 
grounds, and of the conditions controlling the distribution of fishes 
and other aquatic animals, together with the ascertainment of the life- 
history of commercially important species, furnishes the only correct 
basis for the regulation and improvement of our fisheries, for the in- 
struction of the fisherman as to the best and most profitable methods 
of pursuing his calling, and for the successful conduct of fish-cultural 
operations. 
In the early period of the Commission the inquiries pursued were 
necessarily general in character. A survey of the immense field to be 
exploited was first necessary to suggest or to give precise direction to 
those more particular inquiries upon which we are now entering, and 
which are intimately and essentially related to various important prob- 
lems affecting the fisheries. 
The following brief review will illustrate the activity and energy dis- 
played in the division of the Commission having charge of the inquiry 
in regard to the fishing-grounds, as well as the significance and prac- 
tical importance of the subjects investigated. Fuller details will be 
found in the very interesting and instructive report of the assistant in 
charge of the division, Mr. Richard Rathbun, which is appended to and 
forms a part of this report. 
The most important sea-coast inquiries conducted during the year 
have been the investigations in the North Pacific Ocean by the steamer 
Albatross , Lieut. Commander Z. L. Tanner, U. S. Navy, commanding. 
The Albatross reached San Francisco from the Atlantic coast in May, 
1888, and, after a month and a half spent in preparations for the cruise, 
left July 4 for Alaskan waters, where a running survey was made of 
the fishing-grounds situated south of the Alaska Peninsula between 
Unalaska and Middleton Island. The area covered by these explora- 
tions comprised the entire width of the continental platform, extending 
into depths of 100 to 200 fathoms, and including five principal cod- 
fishing banks, having a total area of over 15,000 square miles. - The 
intervening ground, moreover, is in most places adapted to fishing and 
the adjacent shores are well provided with good and secure harbors. 
Although cod fishing has been carried on in this region to a limited 
extent during the past twenty-five or thirty years, no systeinatic in- 
quiry had been made to determine the distribution and value of its re- 
sources prior to the visit of the Albatross. The result of these researches 
can not fail, therefore, to have an important influence on the develop- 
ment of this territory. 
After returning from Alaska, in September, the Albatross began a 
similar investigation along the coasts of Washington and Oregon, 
which was continued during October, 1888, and again in June, 1889. 
During the winter and early part of the spring, the work was extended 
