Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-12-24
THE annual REPORT OF THE
COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES

utilization of food fishes which have
heretofore been wasted. Considering the
universal cry of the high cost of living,
the efforts of the bureau along this line
entitle it to he regarded as a public ben
efactor. Each year when the Mississippi
and Illinois rivers, with their various
tributaries, overflow their banks and
later recede. millions of young fish are
left stranded in temporary pools or
where in short time they would perish
Rescue work is, however, undertaken By
the bureau, and in 1915 over eight million
valuable food fish We're saved and deliV-
cred 10 applicants. deposited in public
waters or returned to the main rivers
Another phase of this work is the eX-
plotting of unknown or little known food
fishes and other aquatic products. The
campaign carried on by the bureau put
the sea mussel. d wholesome food. TOR
centuries highly regarded in Europe. on
the American market as regular artcle,
and established permanent ana grow
ing industry. This work has been ex-
tended to other neglected sea foods. and
still further exploitation is promised. the
recent establishment of the tilehsh being
a case in point. Aid is given also to fish,
cries already established: and during the
mast wear fishing grounds off the coasts
of Washington and oregon, whose exist
ence was never suspected or whose pre-
else location was unknown, have been
surveyed and tested and marked I'M
petus has been given to local fisheries
AS the correspondence of the bureau
shows widespread interest in frog cu.-
- ill od @ a.
Tor have been secured to study the mat
ter and find means for the propagation
Of this important species on CONNER
cial basis.
The great fisheries of Alaska, carried
on In accordance with federal laws
administered by the Bureau of Fish
cries were more prosperous In 1914
than in any previous year. The catch
OF salmon was the largest ever made,
and the output of red salmon in the
Bristol Bay region was enormous.
The Alaskan seals are the most val
liable herd of wild animals ever own
ed by any government, and the bureau
of fisheries is their custodian. The rev.
enue to the government from the sale
Of seal skins-when commercial kill
ing is resumed-will be very large.
and efforts are being made to find
uses for the seal carca sses, aside from
the comparatively small number re-
auired by the natives for food. The old
practice Of using only the skin and
wasting the carcass can no longer be
countenanced. In February, 1915. Con-
gress authorized the secretary to post
pone the sale of the seal skins then in
possession until a more propitious
time. The department now has several
thousand skins in storage, and a plan
has been consumated whereby the dye
ing and dressing of the skins, hereto
fore done in London, will be carried
on in this country, resulting in a great
saving to the government and a re-
duction in the price of the finished
article to the consumer.
The report of the special investigat-
ors who went to the Pribilof Islands
in 1914 to make thorough study of
the conditions of the seal herd was
submitted in January. 1915, and pre-
sents in detail statement not alone
Of the condition Of the seal herd but