REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. CXIX 
strictive laws were then passed regulating* the fishery, when the total 
catch did not exceed that which one vessel might make now in a rea- 
sonably prosperous season — it is easy to see that the present depletion 
of the species is simply a repetition of history, and any measures 
which are intended to remedy it should be carefully considered. 
It is probable that nothing can be done which will entirely change 
the conditions resulting from the habits of the mackerel, though it is 
possible that the conditions may be materially affected and a reasona- 
ble abundance of the species be maintained continuously by artificial 
propagation. If millions of fry can be produced, and particularly if 
these can be protected and reared artificially through their earlier 
stages, when the greatest depletion is liable to occur under natural con- 
ditions, there is at least reason to hope that similar results will be 
secured as in the case of the shad. 
Artificial freezing offish at Gloucester , Mass . — An event fraught with 
great possibilities to the fisheries of New England is the adoption of 
the system of freezing fish at Gloucester, Mass., by artificial methods, 
such as have been in common use in the Great Lakes region for a num. 
ber of years. 
As long ago as 1878, when making his summer headquarters at 
Gloucester, Prof. Baird suggested the advisability of the adoption of 
freezers by the fishing interests of that city. However, this wise and 
timely advice was not heeded, and there seemed no disposition among 
the dealers to profit by it until ten years later, when Mr. William H. 
Jordan consulted with the writer as to the advisability of establishing 
a freezing plant on his premises at Gloucester. 
It is gratifying to record that a freezer on the most approved plan 
has been put into operation during the present fiscal year, and Mr. 
Jordan has also applied this principle of artificial freezing to some of 
his vessels which were sent for cargoes of frozen herring to Newfound- 
land. The most gratifying results have been secured on the vessels 
thus supplied, since they succeeded in securing cargoes of frozen her- 
ring far in advance of those dependent on natural freezing, and since in 
consequence they reached home and a market at an earlier date, and were 
enabled to secure higher prices and much greater profit than otherwise 
could have been obtained. It seems safe to predict that, in view of the 
uncertainty of climate at Newfoundland, this method of freezing herring 
onboard the vessels by artificial means will become a fixed factor in the 
trade, and will ultimately extend to considerable proportions. 
PARTICIPATION IN THE CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION OF THE OHIO VALLEY 
AND CENTRAL STATES. 
In my report for the last year, and in the preceding chapters of this 
report, allusion has been made to my connection with the exhibit of the 
Fish Commission at the Centennial Exposition of the Ohio Valley and 
