in tonnage, and 507 sail vessels and barges, with a total tonnage of 610,873, a decrease from the previous year of 17 in number and 596 in tonnage.

OFFICERS LICENSED.

There were licensed during the fiscal year 7,336 officers of all grades, a decrease from the previous year of 603. There were 1,466 applicants examined for color-blindness, of which number there were rejected 57.

INSPECTION OF BOILER PLATES AND LIFE-PRESERVERS.

Under the authority of the act of Congress approved January 22, 1894, there were inspected at the various mills by the United States assistant inspectors of boilers 4,206 steel plates for the construction of marine boilers, of which number 468 were rejected. The total number of plates inspected is 441 more than that of the previous year. In addition to this there were inspected a large number of steel bars for braces and stay bolts in marine boilers, and several hundred plates were also inspected at the mills for stock and repairs. There were received 78 requests from other branches of the Government service for tests of materials at mills, which tests were completed and reports rendered to the proper officials. There were examined at the different factories during the year 422,313 life-preservers of various kinds, of which number 4,761 were rejected.

CASUALTIES.

The total number of accidents of all kinds resulting in loss of life on vessels subject to the jurisdiction of the Service during the year was 44, a decrease of 2 from the last year, and the total number of lives lost was 251, a decrease of 1,052 from the previous year. Of the 251 fatalities recorded, 41 were from suicide and other causes which no possible precaution could have prevented and 110 were from accidental drowning.

During the year there were carried 342,260,350 passengers on steamers required by law to make report of such number of passengers, and, estimating that there were carried at least 250,000,000 more on steamers not required to make such report, it can be safely calculated that nearly 600,000,000 passengers were carried by steamers under the jurisdiction of this Service. In this number an average of 1 life was lost for every 2,390,438 passengers carried.

CHANGES IN LAWS.

Consequent upon the disaster to the General Slocum, and as the result of a careful study of the conditions of the Service carried on by the Department since the last report, it became clear that both the statutes and the rules and regulations governing the construction,

equipment, maintenance, and operation of steamboats required considerable revision and strengthening. A number of bills covering the subject were therefore prepared and submitted to Congress, most of which were duly enacted. By far the most important change was that in the salary system for the pay of local inspectors. Under the old system, as provided by statute, the inspectors were paid according to the number of vessels inspected and passed. A substantial premium was thus actually placed on lax inspection, and the change to a fixed salary for each inspector, regardless of the number of vessels inspected, was a most salutary one.

These recent acts also made more definite the requirements for lifesaving equipment, eliminated from the statutes certain details which should rather be treated in the rules and regulations, and also established an executive committee of the board of supervising inspectors, composed of three members thereof, with power to make, subject to the approval of the Secretary, and in the intervals between the meetings of the full board, such alterations in the rules as might from time to time appear necessary. This provision has already justified itself in relieving many of the hardships bearing upon steamboat owners by reason of the fact that meetings of the full board were hardly practicable more frequently than once a year.

CHANGES IN RULES AND REGULATIONS.

A special meeting of the Board of Supervising Inspectors was held in December, 1904, and they submitted to the Secretary for his approval an entire preliminary revision of the rules and regulations. Public notice of the proposed changes was widely given, and a public hearing was held in the office of the Secretary on January 16, 1905, at which nearly all the maritime interests of the country were represented. After this hearing nearly two months additional were devoted to these rules, both by the Board and by various officials of the Department, with the aid of outside experts on technical subjects, and as a result an entirely new body of rules and regulations was passed by the Board and approved by the Secretary March 11, 1905, and has since been in operation. Considering the wide scope of these rules, and their important commercial bearing upon steamboat interests, the fact that but two or three substantial objections have been raised to them. since that time by maritime interests, shows the care and efficiency with which the work was done. These objections were considered in July, 1905, by a meeting of the executive committee, and it is believed they have been met to the satisfaction of all parties.

SPECIAL REINSPECTION OF STEAMERS.

As a further measure of safety, and with a view also to determining the general condition of the Service, the reinspection of steamers, with the aid of officers detailed from the Navy Department, was completed,

and showed in detail the conditions in all the more important districts. A further inspection, ordered in September, 1905, and made by the Service itself, showed a great improvement in the condition of vessels generally, and indicated that the work of the Service, with few exceptions, is careful and efficient. It is also pleasing to note that there is a general cooperation with the Service on the part of the great majority of steamboat owners in maintaining vessels and equipment at the desired standard.

RECIPROCAL INTERNATIONAL INSPECTION.

In pursuance of the provisions of section 4400, Revised Statutes, arrangements have been entered into providing for the reciprocal exemption from inspection in proper cases of vessels of the United States and Great Britain, and also the United States and the Dominion of Canada, thus doing away with a useless duplication of inspection, and removing an element of considerable hardship bearing upon important steamboat interests.

BUREAU OF FISHERIES.

The primary objects of the Bureau are to maintain and increase the supply of economic aquatic animals, to develop the methods of taking and utilizing them, to determine the extent of the commercial fisheries, and to study the economic aspects of the industry. The phase of the work which has always been considered most important is the artificial propagation and distribution of food fishes and the investigation of related biological problems, and the report of the Commissioner of Fisheries shows that the work of hatching and distributing food fishes in 1905 was carried on more extensively than ever before, owing to the operation of additional stations, to increased efficiency of methods, and to unusually favorable seasonal conditions at certain stations.

FISH PROPAGATION.

The aggregate output of fishes (including lobsters) was 1,759,475,000, of which about 98 per cent represented commercial species of great importance. From the three marine hatcheries on the New England coast upward of 500,000,000 cod, pollock, flounders, and lobsters were liberated. The river fishes of the Atlantic slope were hatched at six stations, the output of which was over 205.000.000, chiefly shad, salmon, yellow perch, white perch, and striped bass. The season for shad was very poor, owing to peculiar weather conditions, and the take of eggs was much below the average. On the Great Lakes four hatcheries and four subhatcheries were operated for whitefish, lake trout, and pike perch, of which 893,000,000 were distributed.

The cultivation of the fresh-water fishes of the interior streams and lakes was conducted at 17 stations and 3 auxiliary stations, the out

put of which exceeded 23,000,000 rainbow trout, brook trout, blackspotted trout, and other trouts, landlocked salmon, grayling, black basses, crappies, and other indigenous species, a large percentage of which were reared to the fingerling and yearling size. The 3 hatcheries and 9 subhatcheries on the Pacific coast, which are conducted exclusively in the interests of the salmon fishery; have accomplished very important work, more especially on the Sacramento River, all previous records being broken in the distribution of over 137,000,000 salmon.

ALASKAN SALMON HATCHERY.

An act approved March 3, 1905, appropriated funds to establish one or more hatcheries in Alaska, and steps were promptly taken to carry the law into effect, so that actual hatching might begin during the cal ́endar year 1905. The site selected was in a tributary of Yes Bay, in the southeast part of the Territory, as recommended by the special salmon commission. In order to facilitate the work, the steamer Albatross was detailed to assist, and the construction of the first Alaskan hatchery under Government control is now well under way. The hatchery as planned will have a capacity for 25,000,000 salmon eggs.

FISH LIFE AND IRRIGATION OPERATIONS.

It is important that adequate steps be taken to prevent the destruction of fish life through failure to provide gates which will prevent fish from passing from the streams and reservoirs into the irrigation ditches of the West. In some States the loss of food and game fish from this cause has already become serious. In the event of the failure of the States interested to meet the condition properly, a Federal law may be advisable to apply to all waters for the utilization of which the Government has given aid.

INVESTIGATIONS.

Biological inquiries and experiments pertaining to useful and commercially important water animals have been conducted in all parts of the country. The oyster, the most valuable fishery product, the hardshell clam, the green turtle, and the diamond-back terrapin have received much attention, with special reference to cultivation; the experiments in the raising of bath sponges from cuttings have progressed satisfactorily; the habits, food, spawning, abundance, etc., of various important food fishes have been studied, and the aquatic resources of a number of definite areas have been systematically investigated. At the biological laboratories at Woods Hole, Mass., and Beaufort, N. C., studies of the local marine faunas have been continued and results of immediate or prospective value have been secured. In October the steamer Albatross was dispatched on an important scientific expedition to the eastern Pacific Ocean under the direction

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of Mr. Alexander Agassiz. The cruise continued for six months, and extended from San Francisco to the Galapagos Archipelago, Easter Island, and the Gambier Islands. In addition to the very extensive and valuable collections of deep-sea, intermediate, and surface animals, valuable data relative to the physics and chemistry of the ocean were secured.

Statistical canvasses and investigations of the fisheries of the Great Lakes, the Lake of the Woods, and the Mississippi River and tributaries were completed, and similar canvasses of the fisheries of the Middle Atlantic and Pacific States were in progress at the close of the year. The return of the important offshore vessel fisheries centering at Boston and Gloucester, Mass., has been published in special monthly bulletins.

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF FISHERIES.

At the Fourth International Congress of Fisheries, held in Vienna, Austria, in June, 1905, the Department was represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Fisheries. An official invitation for the congress to hold its next session in Washington was accepted, and the time of meeting selected was September, 1908.

ALASKAN SALMON FISHERIES.

Statistics of the Alaska salmon pack for the season of 1905 show that the business has been generally prosperous. Considering the fact that the number of canneries in operation was 10 less than in 1904 the product in 1905 was comparatively, though not actually, larger. On a close estimate (full reports not yet having been received) the output was 1,917,250 cases, against 2,012,928 cases in 1904-a decrease of 95,678 cases. Had all the plants been operated this year, the season's pack undoubtedly would have exceeded that of 1904 by not less than 150,000 cases. The pack of the world (including salted salmon) will probably be about 4,292,250 cases, against 3,286,259 in 1904-a gain of 1,005,991 cases.

It is agreed by all experts that in order to maintain existing resources artificial propagation of salmon on an extensive scale is imperative. Since my last report a Government hatchery has been installed and hatching has already begun. Next year the output of this plant should add materially to the production of salmon fry by private parties, which this year will aggregate about 110,000,000. Nevertheless, the fry hatched will still be far short of the number required to adequately reenforce nature. It is desirable that the Government should considerably augment its efforts in this direction by establishing additional hatcheries.

Under the act of March 3, 1899, a tax of 4 cents per case is levied and collected on canned salmon and a tax of 10 cents per barrel on