LXXVI 
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH 
AND FISHERIES. 
any of the rivers of Alaska, with the purpose or result of preventing or impeding 
the ascent of salmon or other anadromous species to their spawning-grounds, is 
hereby declared to bo unlawful, and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby author- 
ized and directed to establish such regulations and surveillance as may be necessary 
to insure that this prohibition is strictly enforced and to otherwise protect the 
salmon fisheries of Alaska; and every person who shall be found guilty of a viola- 
tion of the provisions of this section shall be fined not less than two hundred and 
fifty dollars for each day of the continuance of such obstruction. 
Sec. 2. That the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries is hereby empowered and 
directed to institute an investigation into the habits, abundance, and distribution of 
the salmon of Alaska, as well as the present conditions and methods of the fisheries, 
with a view of recommending to Congress such additional legislation as may be 
necessary to prevent the impairment or exhaustion of these valuable fisheries, and 
placing them under regular and permanent conditions of production. 
In accordance with the provisions of section 2 of this act, the XL S. 
Fish Commissioner made arrangements to undertake the investigation 
therein directed during the summer of 1889. Ko specific appropriation 
having been made for that purpose, the expenses of the expedition 
were provided from the general appropriation. A party of four per- 
sons was organized to. conduct the field work, the charge of the same 
being confided to Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, the ichthyologist of the Fish 
Commission, a well-known authority on Alaskan fishes and personally 
acquainted with the region to be studied. His associates were Mr. 
Livingston Stone, fish-culturist, Mr. Franklin Booth, topographical 
engineer, and Mr. Bobert E. Lewis, rodman and general assistant. 
With the exception of Mr. Booth, these persons were all regular em- 
ployes of the Commission. Dr. Bean left Washington in June, 1889, 
but the party was detained in San Francisco until July, through in- 
ability to obtain the necessary transportation, there being no regular 
line of steamers to that part of the Alaskan coast where they were to 
go. This exploration belongs, therefore, to the next fiscal year, but 
the plans and objects of the trip may be briefly stated here. 
Kadiak and Afognak islands were selected as requiring first atten- 
tion, as the greatest danger from overfishing had been reported from 
those places. In case the time permitted, the work was to have been 
extended subsequently to Cook Inlet, but the season proved too short 
to include that region in the scheme of operations. The observations 
of the party were to relate to the natural history of the salmon and 
their associated species, and the physical characteristics of their envir- 
onment; the methods, statistics, and conditions of the salmon fishery; 
and the necessities and advantages of Alaskan waters for the artificial 
propagation of salmon. From the results obtained, it was expected to 
determine the extent and causes of any injury that had been done, and 
the proper remedies to apply, whether through legislation or through 
the aid of fish-culture. 
