VI PEEFATORY NOTE. 



to the latter, are considered : (A) location, (B) topography, (0) depth of water, (D) character of 

 bottom, (B) temperature of water, (F) currents, (G) character of invertebrate life, etc. 



III. The fishermen and fishing towns. — Here were to be considered the coast districts engaged 

 in the fisheries, with reference to their relation to the fisheries, historically and statistically, and 

 the social, vital, and other statistics relating to the fishermen. 



IV. Apparatus and methods of capture. — Here were to be considered all the forms of apparatus 

 used by fishermen ; boats, nets, traps, harpoons, etc., and the methods employed in the various 

 branches of the fishery. Here each special kind of fishery, of which there are more than fifty 

 in the United States, is considered separately with regard to its methods, its hisl*ry, and its 

 statistics. 



V. Products of fisheries.— Under this head were to be studied the statistics of the yield of 

 American fisheries, past and present. 



VI. Preparation, care of, and manufacture of fishery products. — Here were to be considered 

 the methods and the vairious devices for utilizing fish after they are caught, with statistics of 

 capital and men employed, etc.: (A) preservation of live fish, (B) refrigeration, (C) sun-drying, 

 (D) smoke-drying, (E) pickling, (F) hermetically canning, (G) fur dressing, (H) whalebone prep- 

 aration, (I) isinglass manufacture, (K) ambergris manufacture, (L) fish guano manufacture, (M) oil 

 rendering, etc. 



VII. Economy of the fisheries. — Here were to be studied: (A) financial organization and 

 methods, (B) insurance, (C) labor and capital, (D) markets and market prices, (E) lines of trafiQc, 

 (F) exports, imports, and duties. 



The fishery industry is of such great importance, and is undergoing such constant changes 

 that a visit of a few days or weeks to any locality, even by the most competent experts, has 

 invariably proved unsatisfactory. We were able therefore to collect only the most important 

 facts, selected with special reference to the needs of the report in contemplation, leaving many 

 subjects of interest undiscussed. 



The field-work, and the correspondence in connection with it, was carried on by the following- 

 named special agents, and approximately between the dates below mentioned : 



I. — Coast of Maine, east of Portland. Mr. li. Edward Earll and Captain J. W. Collins, 

 August 1 to October 31, 1879; July 29 to October 20, 1880; January 1, 1881, to 

 January 1, 1883. 

 n. — Portland to Plymouth (except Cape Ann) and eastern side of Buzzard's Bay. W. A. 



Wilcox, September 2, 1879, to March 1, 1881. 

 III. — Cape Ann. A. Howard Clark, September 1, 1879, to November 1, 1880; July, August, 



and September, 1883. 

 IV.— Cape Cod. Frederick W. True, July 1 to October 1, 1879; September 1 to October 31, 



1880; Vinal N. Edwards, October 1, 1880, to July 31, 1882. 

 V. — Provincetown. Captain N. B. Atwood, August 1, 1879, to August 1, 1880. 

 VI. — Ehode Island and Connecticut, west to the Connecticut Eiver. Ludwig Kumlien, August 



16 to October 16, 1880. 

 VII. — Long Island and north shore of Long Island Sound, and west to Sandy Hook. Frederick 

 Mather, August 1, 1879, to July 1, 1881. 

 VIIL— New York City. Barnet Phillips, January I, 1880, to July 1, 1881. 



IX Coast of New Jersey. R. Edward Earll, December, 1 880. 



X.— Philadelphia. C. W. Smiley and W. V. Cox, November, 1880. 

 XL — Coast of Delaware. Captain J. W. Collins, December, 1880. 



