REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
17 
character of their researches, it is noteworthy that a large percentage 
of the men of science who avail themselves of the laboratory privi- 
leges are engaged in work having more or less direct relation to 
practical questions, and in the past year an unusual amount of atten- 
tion was given to subjects having an immediate economic bearing on 
the commercial fisheries and the cultivation of marine creatures. 
THE FISHING INDUSTRY. 
STATISTICS AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
In the spring of 1909 the methods, apparatus, extent, and condi- 
tion of the shad and alewife fisheries of Chesapeake Bay and tribu- 
taries were investigated by the steamer Fish Hawk and field agents. 
Each piece of apparatus set for shad and alewives was located on a 
chart, and arrangements w T ere made to obtain statistics of the invest- 
ment, catch, etc., for the season of 1909. The inquiry was still in 
progress at the close of the fiscal year. The number of pound nets 
and other fishing appliances in the Chesapeake basin has become so 
large that the movements of the anadromous fishes to their spawning 
grounds is seriously interfered with, and both natural and artificial 
propagation is curtailed to a degree that is most alarming. The 
downward trend of the fisheries and its cause have been repeatedly 
pointed out in the Bureau’s reports, but the States interested have 
taken no action in the matter. This inquiry has been made in order 
to afford authentic data with which to demonstrate the urgent 
necessity for adequate legislative measures. 
The local agents at Boston and Gloucester have collected statistics 
of the quantity and value of the fish landed at these ports by Ameri- 
can fishing vessels. The returns have been published as monthly 
bulletins and distributed to the trade, and have also been issued 
as an annual bulletin. These fisheries are very valuable and rep- 
resent about seven-eighths of the offshore food-fish fisheries of the 
Atlantic coast of the United States. The elaborate and accurate 
statistics of the yield have been gathered for a long series of years, 
and afford an invaluable basis for determining the general condi- 
tion of the fish supply on the great “ banks ” off New England, the 
Canadian maritime provinces, and Newfoundland. From the fol- 
lowing table, showung by months and species the quantity and value 
of the yield of these fisheries, it appears that in the calendar year 
1908 there were landed over 6,600 cargoes of fish, having an aggregate 
weight of 181,465,000 pounds, worth to the fishermen $4,629,000. 
The receipts were nearly equally divided between the two ports, 
though at Boston practically the entire yield is landed in a fresh 
condition, while at Gloucester a very large percentage is salted. 
Compared with the previous year there is shown an increase of 
7,548,000 pounds at Boston and a decrease of 17,654,000 pounds at 
Gloucester. 
