REPORT UPON THE DIVISION OF FISHERIES, 347 



It may properly be mentioned here that several members of the Fish 

 Commission were called upon to testify before the fishery committees of 

 Congress during the present session (first session of the Fiftieth Con- 

 gress) regarding the effect upon the abundance of menhaden of the present 

 methods of fishing ; and also to inform the committees whether the sup- 

 posed unwarranted destruction of the species by purse-seines had exerted 

 any important influence upon certain food fishes that are popularly sup- 

 posed to feed chiefly upon menhaden. In recent years the tendency, 

 on the part of many, has been to ascribe any scarc^ of bluefish, weak- 

 fish, striped bass, and other valued food species to the influence exerted 

 by the menhaden fishermen. It has been thought by some that the 

 capture of large quantities of menhaden drove that species from the New 

 England coast north of Cape Cod, and caused a general decrease in its 

 abundance; also that there was danger of its practical extermination, 

 and a consequent scarcity in our waters of those species which prey 

 upon it. 



The testimony furnished by the Commission, which was the result of 

 careful scientific study, showed that many of these popular beliefs were 

 unfounded, and the prediction was ventured that menhaden might at 

 any time reappear in the waters north of Cape Cod in as great abun- 

 dance as they were formerly found in that region. It is certainly a re- 

 markable verification of that prediction that, after having been absent 

 from the Gulf of Maine for 10 years, the menhaden has this summer re- 

 turned to its former haunts along the coasts of Maine and Massachu- 

 setts where it is now reported as being enormously abundant. 



14. Statistics collected by means of the Treasury circular. — In preceding 

 chapters attention has been called to the method of collecting statis- 

 tics of certain vessel fisheries through the cooperation of the Treasury 

 Department. This system of obtaining such data is a new feature in 

 the work of the Fish Commission and justly deserves consideration in 

 this report. 



In compliance with the request of the Commissioner, the Secretary of 

 the Treasury issued, on December 1G, 1885, a circular (No. 177, Bureau 

 of Navigation) embodying certain questions, answers to which were 

 required from owners, masters, or agents of fishing vessels whenever 

 they made application at the customs houses for a renewal of a vessel's 

 papers, or when such were surrendered. It was expected that in this 

 manner very accurate detailed statistics could be obtained with com- 

 paratively little trouble and practically without expenditure. 



Many difficulties were met with at the start, however, that were not 

 anticipated, and it took considerable time and much patient labor and 

 perseverance to bring the system into working order. At first it 

 was not infrequently the case that the circular would not be properly 

 filled out, and in some cases no attention would be given to it. This, 

 perhaps, might have been expected to some extent, at least, where offi- 

 cials were inexperienced in this kind of work. Such delinquencies were 



