REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. LXXXI 
the first founded upon a scientific basis, were more than local in their 
effect, demonstrating’, moreover, that precise methods of observation 
and deduction might be made as beneficial for this industry as for the 
kindred ones of agriculture and mining. The second year fish-culture 
was taken up as an adjunct in the replenishment of impoverished 
fishing-grounds in fresh water, but the work of exploration along the 
seacoast was continued and its scope enlarged. In the summer of 1872 
the headquarters were at Eastport, Me., the center of the herring and 
of other important fisheries; in 1873. they were transferred to Portland, 
Me., and in succeeding years to Noank, Conn., Wood’s Holl for a second 
time, Salem. Halifax, Gloucester, Provincetown, and Newport, ending 
with the latter place in 1880. 
Down to the last-mentioned year, while the apparatus employed was 
the most perfect then available, the means for using it were more or 
less crude and were improvised for the occasion. The vessels were 
mostly small and not suitable for long trips, especially away from land, 
making it advisable to change the base of operations from time to time 
until the building of the steamer Fish Hawk in 1880. The importance of 
extending the inquiries to the offshore banks was made evident in that 
year by the researches in the tilefisli region, and the project of build- 
ing a larger sea-going steamer for that class of work brought with it 
the question of a permanent station where the vessels could find a 
rendezvous and the working party proper accommodations for their 
studies. Experiments in the propagation of cod had also been suffi- 
ciently advanced to indicate the utility of extensive operations in that 
respect. To join forces and build a station which should answer for all 
these purposes seemed most expedient, and this was the course pur- 
sued. Some of the reasons for selecting Wood’s Holl as the site were 
the freedom of its waters from contamination and their high salinity 
(the strong tidal currents insuring a perfect circulation), and the 
somewhat temperate winters — the season when the cod work must be 
undertaken. At this point, moreover, several important species whose 
distribution is to the south of Cape Cod could be obtained, and a much 
greater scope could be given to hatching operations. 
The essential features of the Wood’s Holl Station are the large build- 
ing serving as a hatchery and laboratory, the pump house or water 
tower, and the adjacent basins for the storage of living fishes. Besides 
these there is a dormitory for the assistants (the town itself affording 
insufficient accommodations for them), an ample coal shed, a storehouse, 
and well- constructed wharves for the mooring of the vessels. The first 
building was completed in 1884, the last in 1886. 
During the lifetime of Prof. Baird, the steamers Albatross and Fish 
Hawk and the schooner Grampus made this place their headquarters 
during the warmer months, while engaged upon the survey of the 
northern fishing-grounds, returning after each cruise to deposit their 
load of specimens, to report their observations, and to replenish their 
H. Mis. 274 vi 
