REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMISSION. 



THE COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE. 

 INTRODUCTORY. 



The animal report of the Commissioner has heretofore been made for 

 the 12 months included in the calendar year. 



Since, however, several of the most important branches of the fish 

 cultural work of the Commission, viz, the propagation of cod, lobster, 

 salmon, trout of different species, and whitefisb, are continuous through- 

 out the winter, it is necessary, in order to give a complete and compre- 

 hensive account of each season's work, that the annual report should be 

 made for the fiscal rather than the calendar year. 



This report will therefore cover the operations of the Fish Commis- 

 sion for the 18 months comprised between January 1, 1887, and June 

 30, 18S8. This period has been marked by important changes, as well 

 in the organization and personnel of the Commission, as in its relations 

 to other branches of the Government service. 



The Fish Commission from its first establishment in 1871 was con- 

 tinuously under the direction of Professor Baird, until his death at 

 Wood's Hoil, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1887. An account of 

 his distinguished services in behalf of the fishery interests will be given 

 in my next report. 



Immediately after the death of Professor Baird, at the request of the 

 President, Dr. G. Brown Goode, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, assumed the commissionership, and performed the duties 

 of the office for a period of about G months, until the law was modified 

 and the present Commissioner appointed. 



The following is a copy of the act amending the law concerning the 

 U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries : 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 

 in Congress assembled, That section four thousand three hundred and ninety-five of 

 the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and the same is hereby, amended to read 

 as follows: 



That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of 

 the Senate, a person of scientific and practical acquaintance with the fish and fish- 

 eries to be a Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, and he shall receive a salary at the 



H. Mis. 133 1 



