C XVI REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
tions and in tlie preparation of extensive reports on the fisheries, the pres- 
sure of routine work has been sucli that the small force available has 
been required to make an extra effort to carry it on. My own absence 
from the office, in connection with other affairs, together with the detail 
of some of the most efficient clerks to other duties, naturally brought 
an additional pressure of work upon those who remained in Washington. 
PRACTICAL WORK OF THE DIVISION. 
General considerations . — In view of the many matters which have 
served to handicap the operations of the division during the year, the 
progress of the work in connection with the preparation of reports 
has been most satisfactory. As stated in my last report, when the divi- 
sion of fisheries was organized, near the close of the last fiscal year, 
the work on the compilation of reports in the office was either not com- 
menced or in a very embryonic condition. Notwithstanding this, and 
despite the pressure of extensive field investigations, much has been 
accomplished, as will appear from the statements which follow: 
REPORTS AND SPECIAL PAPERS SUBMITTED FOR PRINTING. 
1. The Beam-Trawl Fishery of Great Britain, with notes on Beam-Trawling in 
Other Countries. (23 plates; 34 text figures.) 
2. Review of the Fisheries of the Great Lakes in 1885. (39 full-page plates of 
fish, apparatus, etc., and 6 folding charts, showing number and location of 
pound-nets.) 
3. The American Sardine Industry. 
4. Notes on Certain Fishery Industries of Eastport, Me. 
5. Some Reasons why the Fishermen of Nova Scotiaprefer to use Salt Clams ( Mya 
arenaria ) for Bait in the Bank hand-line Cod Fisheries. 
6. Statistics respecting certain features of the vessel fisheries of the United 
States. 
7. Suggestions for the employment of improved types of vessels in the market 
fisheries. 
REPORTS AND PAPERS IN COURSE OF PREPARATION. 
1. Report on the construction and equipment of the schooner Grampus. 
2. Report upon the operations of the U. S. Fish Commission schooner Grampus, 
from March 15, 1887, to June 30, 1888. 
3. Notes on the crab fishery of Crisfield, Md. 
4. Statistical and descriptive notes on the the fisheries of the Middle Atlantic 
States. . 
5. Notes on the fisheries of the Lower Chesapeake Bay. 
6. Report and catalogue of the Fish Commission exhibit at the Centennial 
Exposition of the Ohio Valley and Central States. 
STATISTICAL STATEMENTS, DESCRIPTIVE PAPERS, ETC., FURNISHED TO CONGRESS, THE 
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS, STATE OFFICIALS, AND OTHERS. 
A large amount of material tliat comes under this head is annually 
supplied by tlie division. Some of it requires great research and is of 
such a nature that it is suitable for publication in the reports of the 
