FISHERY INVESTIGATIONS OF THE STEAMER ALBATROSS. 
129 
graphic interest. Bottom fishing is rarely carried on beyond a depth of 200 fathoms, 
and in a new region it will be limited for many years to much shallower water. The 
sounding work, as indicating the general contour of the bottom, has, therefore, been suffi- 
ciently extensive for this purpose over the area so far explored, but more detailed surveys 
will be required in some localities, especially where the bottom is irregular and the 
fishery resources are rich enough to call for additional information of that character. 
The summary of the operations of the Albatross herewith presented gives, in 
geographical sequence, the principal information of interest to the fishermen, which has 
been gathered during the several cruises iu the North Pacific Ocean and to Bering Sea. 
It is based mainly upon the narrative reports of the commanding officer and his 
civilian assistants, but is necessarily very incomplete, as only a comparatively small 
part of the extensive, natural- history collections obtained has yet been studied and 
described. It is considered, however, that the more essential practical results of the 
explorations have been sufficiently well worked out to warrant placing them before 
the public in this preliminary paper. The fishes, which comprise the most important 
group of animals from an economic standpoint, have been placed in the hands of 
Prof. Charles H. Gilbert, of the Leland Stanford Junior University, who also accom- 
panied the Albatross on several trips, and while a number of papers descriptive of the 
new species secured have been published by him, a discussion of the ichthyological 
results must be deferred until the completion of his final reports. Much progress has 
also been made in the working up of the crustaceans and mollusks, which next to the 
fishes offer the most forms of commercial value. 
It has been the practice of the Fish Commission to transmit to the U. S. Coast 
and Geodetic Survey and the Hydrographic Office of the Navy all of the hydrographic 
data obtained by the Albatross at the end of each cruise. This information has been 
incorporated from time to time in the charts issued by those bureaus, and, as their 
publications can readily be obtained at all of the principal ports of the United States, 
it has not been considered expedient for the Fish Commission to duplicate this work. 
A few charts have, however, been published by the Commission for early distribution 
among the fishermen, and those relating to the Alaskan fishing-grounds are still the 
most desirable for the regions covered, being upon a larger scale and containing more 
details than any others. The five small maps which accompany this paper are intended 
mainly to show the positions of the principal fishing-grounds; they illustrate only a 
very small proportion of the work accomplished. 
At the- end of the paper is given a list of the publications of the Fish Commission, 
the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Hydrographic Office of the Navy, which 
relate directly to the investigations of the Albatross, or contain data derived from 
them, and may be regarded as supplementing the information given in this summary. 
The titles of a few earlier papers by the Fish Commission are also cited because 
of their important bearing upon the questions here discussed. The charts of the 
Coast Survey and Fish Commission will be found most useful by the fishermen, 
those of the Hydrographic Office covering the coasts of the United States being 
usually upon a small scale. Where referred to in the body of the paper they are 
designated by the numbers which accompany them. It should be understood, however, 
that this list is very far from complete as regards the literature which now exists 
relative to the fishes of theNorth Pacific Ocean, and manypublished papers respecting 
the scientific results of the Albatross are here omitted, as they do not immediately 
concern the question of the practical fisheries. 
F. C. B. 1892—9 
