X INTEODUCTION. 



based their descriptions on observations made wliile investigating the fisheries of those regions, on 

 behalf of the fishery census of 1880. Dr. T. H. Bean's report upon Alaskan resources and 

 fishing grounds is the result of studies made upon numerous collections of fishes received from 

 that Territory, from time to time, during many years, supplemented by personal observations 

 in the field during a trip to Alaska in 1880. 



With respect to the fishing grounds of Eastern North America, a few additional words of 

 explanation are necessfiry. The outlines of a fishing ground seldom conform to the contour lines 

 used on hydrographic charts to define the limits of a bank, ledge, or other inequality of the sea 

 bottom, as the fishes are not always influenced so much by differences in the depth of water (within 

 certain limits) as by the abundance of food or other essential conditions, among which temperature 

 probably enters as an important factor. A fishing ground may, on one side, have a less depth than 

 25 or 30 fathoms, and on the other descend to depths of 50, 60, or even, in some cases, several hun- 

 dred fathoms, the same species of fish sometimes occurring at both extremes. Many of the data 

 furnished by the ordinary class of hydrographic work are, therefore, entirely unsuited to fishery 

 purposes, and it is of the greatest importance that special surveys be undertaken in the immediate 

 interest of the fisheries, and with the object of ascertaining the full extent and character of all the 

 larger grounds that may be profitably resorted to by our fishermen. Fishing grounds are con- 

 stantly changing in productiveness, and any survey bearing upon them should be made contin- 

 uous, in order that the changes may be noted and their causes explained, if possible. 



Such a work as this belongs within the province of the now existing United States Commission 

 of Fish and Fisheries, and so far as the means at its disposal have permitted, its researches in this 

 particular have been carried on with thoroughness and precision. Until within a very few years, 

 however, this Commission was provided only with small vessels, with which it was impossible to 

 extend the explorations much beyond those areas commonly entitled the inshore grounds, or beyond 

 the boundaries of the United States. In 1883, the Commission was, for the first time, supplied with 

 a thoroughly reliable sea-going steamer, capable of visiting anypart of the oceanic grounds, and 

 it has already collected many important data bearing upon the great banks of the northeastern 

 coast, the mackerel and menhaden grounds, and the fishing areas of the Gulf of Mexico. New 

 fishing grounds of great value have already been discovered, and new species of edible fishes have 

 been introduced to the markets; but this work, so far as the steamer Albatross is concerned, has 

 only just begun, and in the near future may be expected to add greatly to our knowledge of the 

 fishery resources of our country. The series of investigations by the Albatross being entirely 

 subsequent to the preparation of this volume, no account of it will be found on the following 

 pages. 



The above remarks will serve to indicate how difficult it is to locate, and especially to plot with 

 distinct outlines, many of the fishing grounds along our coast, particularly as very few of the in- 

 shore grounds are in any way indicated on the Coast Survey charts. For those that have been 

 previously marked out, as in the case of defined banks and ledges, we have relied in part on pub- 

 lished charts, in part on information furnished by fishermen, by means of which latter it has often 

 been possible to greatly perfect the outlines. The work of plotting nearly all the inshore grounds 

 has been first attempted in connection with this volume, the data having been mostly obtained 

 directly from the fishermen who are constantly resorting to them, and some of whom have drawn 

 the outlines themselves. Every precaution has been taken to procure such information only from 

 reliable persons, and to verify the same by other means wherever possible; and although it is not 

 expected that absolute accuracy has been reached in all cases, especially as regards distances, the 

 fishermen having to rely mainly on their judgment in this matter, it is probable that the positions 



