REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. CXVII 
Fish Commission, but as a rule such information is too specialized or 
local in its application to warrant printing by this Commission although 
frequently used for that purpose by the parties and bureaus to which 
sent. 
It is not necessary to mention here all the statements regarding the 
various phases of the commercial fisheries for which request has been 
made and which have been furnished by this office. The following list 
is submitted more as an index of the work and capacity of the division 
than as a resume of its entire annual operations. 
1. Statement of the Alaska salmon pack from 1883 to 1888, inclusive. 
Table showing by customs districts and fishing-grounds the number of vessels 
engaged in the offshore bank fisheries of New England in 1888. 
3. Statement showing the oyster product of the United States. 
4. Statistical tables exhibiting the mackerel catch, by United States vessels, in 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, during the years 1883, 1884, and 1885. 
5. Tabular presentations showing the extent of the fishery industry of Sandusky, » 
Ohio, and of Lake -Erie; also of British Columbia. 
6. Statement of the extent of the fishing fleet on the Grand Banks of Newfound- 
land and the number of vessels belonging to each country. 
7. Statistical summary of the fisheries of North Carolina. 
NOTICE OF SPECIAL MATTERS AFFECTING THE FISHERIES. 
As in my previous report, it is intended, under tliis head, to call at- 
tention to certain matters that may not in all cases be directly connected 
with the work of the Fish Commission, but which, nevertheless, have 
such an important bearing upon the relations or prosperity of the com- 
mercial fisheries of the country as to warrant mention of them. 
As a rule, every year is noteworthy for a series of events that affect, 
in one way or another, the present or future of certain fisheries, and 
perhaps few years have been more noticeable in this direction than the 
one covered by this report. 
Fishery treaty with Great Britain . — Among the noteworthy events of 
recent occurrence none seem of greater moment than the treaty affect- 
ing the fishery relations between the United States and Canada, which 
was negotiated with Great Britain during the last fiscal year, reference 
to which was made in my previous report. 
It is pertinent to mention in this connection the fact that the State 
Department was furnished by the Commission with a large number of 
copies of Sections I to Y, inclusive, of the “Report upon the Fisheries 
and Fishery Industries of the United States,” a special edition being 
printed for this purpose. 
In addition, the Commission supplied the American commissioners 
with numerous statistical statements, with special papers on fisheries, 
and with colored maps showing the distribution of the most important 
species of fish, mollusks, etc., taken for food or bait between Cape Hat- 
teras and the coast of Labrador at the intersection of the 53d degree 
of latitude. Besides this, the experts of the Commission rendered val- 
