INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The report on the fisheries of the New England States presented 

 herewith relates to the condition of the commercial fisheries in the 

 year 1898, and is based on inquiries made in the field in 1899 by statis- 

 tical agents of the U. S. Fish Commission. 



The results of the investigation have already been published in con- 

 densed form as Statistical Bulletin No. 15, and in the report of the 

 Commissioner for 1900. 



The report has been prepared under the direction of Mr. C. H. 

 Townsend, assistant in charge of the division of fisheries. 



The agents of the division engaged in the investigations in the field 

 were Messrs. C. H. Stevenson in Connecticut, W. A. Wilcox and 

 T. M. Cogswell in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, Ansle}^ Hall in 

 Massachusetts, E. S. King in Rhode Island, and J. N. Cobb in Maine. 



The assistant in charge visited some of the more important fisheries 

 of the region, and Mr. J. B. Wilson was temporarily engaged in 

 Massachusetts. 



Geo. M. Bowers, 



Comriiissioner. 

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