suspicion that in some cases the diseases may be related to similar disorders in man. There is therefore abundant reason why the Bureau should be provided with special laboratory facilities for the prosecution of these studies, as was urged in a special message of the President to the last session of Congress.

The special examinations of lakes and streams in the interests of the fisheries and fish culture have been continued. Special importance is attached to the determination of the dissolved air in waters and its quantitative relation to the possibility of the existence of fish life.

The investigation of the fishery resources of the Philippine Islands by the steamer Albatross, which has been in progress since 1907, has been concluded. The economic and practical data collected are highly valuable and the scientific results important.

The biological laboratories have been open as usual and their operation has facilitated many and varied investigations.

COMMERCIAL FISHERIES.

The commercial fisheries of the United States, which have an annual value to the fishermen of $62,000,000, are, with few exceptions, in a prosperous condition. One of the most noteworthy of these exceptions is the mackerel fishery, which for a considerable period has been much less productive than formerly, and in the year just closed exhibits a material decrease as compared with the preceding twelve months. The causes for this decrease have long been debated. It is hardly credible that a fish having the habits of the mackerel could be seriously decimated by the operations of the fishery, and the facts at command appear to indicate that the fish still exist in large bodies, but that there has been some change in habit. The matter is of high pecuniary importance to the fishermen, and, as stated in last year's report, the Bureau undertook an investigation in the spring of 1909 at the urgent request of the New England fishery interests. The Grampus, which was detailed for the duty, under the direction of an experienced mackerel fisherman, continued her operations until about October, covering the usual haunts of the fish from Cape Hatteras to the south coast of Newfoundland. The cruise was productive of good in furnishing to the fishing fleet information of the immediate whereabouts of mackerel schools and added something to knowledge of the habits of the fish, but did not shed much light on the main question.

The shad fishery of the Atlantic coast is also gradually waning despite extensive work in the propagation of the fish. The inquiry commenced in the last fiscal year was continued. The results of this work, which were directed principally to Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, show rather conclusively that the cause of the decrease

is the intensity of the fishery and the obstruction which some of the apparatus employed presents to the migration of the fish to the spawning grounds in the headwaters of the streams. In 1909 there were fished in Chesapeake Bay 3,332 pound nets, some of the strings extending in a practically unbroken line 4 or 5 miles from shore, 12,768 gill nets, and a considerable number of other nets. Certain streams are almost cut off to the access of fish, and in some cases the fixed apparatus is so placed as to be an impediment to navigation. The latter phase of the matter is the subject of inquiry by the War Department, which has been furnished with charts and memoranda exhibiting the data collected by the Bureau. The Bureau several years ago was largely instrumental in bringing about the correction of similar conditions in North Carolina, with the result that its collection of shad eggs at the Edenton hatchery increased from about 6,748,000 in 1905 to about 70,000,000 in 1910.

The oyster fishery of the United States, the most valuable fishery of any kind possessed by any nation of the world, was made the subject of comprehensive statistical inquiry during the latter part of the fiscal year, and it is the purpose to continue the work. No complete data of this industry, the product of which has a first value of $16,000,000 annually, have ever been collected, and most of the matter which is available is involved with the general statistics of the fisheries as a whole. For the information of the trade, but more especially to supply a basis for rational regulation and administration of the oyster grounds of the several States, it is highly important that full data of the fishery should be available. The lack is felt on every occasion when the oyster question comes up for consideration.

ALASKAN FISHERY INTERESTS.

Salmon-inspection service.-As a result of the vigilant enforcement during the preceding year of the laws for protection and regulation of the salmon fisheries, there were comparatively few violations during the fiscal year just ended. The Bureau has given effect to several additional regulations, which have put a stop to certain minor abuses. Efforts to prevent the waste caused by the rejection of edible portions of fish of which the more desirable parts have been utilized have been successful; and an endeavor is now being made to stop the use of food fishes for the manufacture of fertilizer and to encourage the utilization in their stead of scraps and wastes. This will serve the dual purpose of economy and the prevention of water pollution through the discharge of putrescible materials.

The total yield of the salmon industry during the year was valued at $9,796,000, a decrease of $887,000 from the preceding year. There were employed 11,440 persons and an invested capital of $9,007,000.

The cod and halibut fisheries yielded a product valued at $314,410 and employed 550 persons and $503,800 fixed capital.

Fur-seal fisheries.-The act of Congress approved April 21, 1910, made fundamental changes in the administration of the Pribilof Islands, and on the expiration of the lease recently in force the Bureau assumed control of all matters relating to the seal herd and the care, control, and general welfare of the native population. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars was appropriated to give effect to the law, and under its provisions necessary additional employees have been appointed and negotiations have been entered into for purchasing the plant of the former lessees on the islands.

At the time when the Bureau took charge the seal herd, owing mainly to the notorious abuses of pelagic sealing, was in a condition which required the utmost care to save it from practical extinction. The Bureau therefore moved cautiously and adopted no policy until it had called a meeting of practically all naturalists and officials who have visited the islands in the last twenty-five years and had received their advice. On the unanimous recommendation of this board, based on an intimate understanding of the habits of the fur seal and a knowledge of the facts of pelagic sealing, it was deemed advisable to authorize the killing of a reasonable number of the excess of immature males. The number to be killed is left to the discretion of the Bureau's agents on the islands, governed by rigid limitations as to age, sex, size, and an ample breeding reserve of the most vigorous and perfect specimens, selected with a view to improving the herd.

Under the provisions of the law, regulations relating to the killing or capture in Alaska of certain fur-bearing animals other than seals have been promulgated.

The data relating to the seal herds during the year 1910 now available justifies the statement that approximately 13,000 sealskins were secured, from the sale of which we may expect to realize the sum of about $450,000, as against about $150,000 received under the contract system last year. At the same time measures for the conservation of the seal herds have been strengthened.

Recommendations.-Communication with some of the points in Alaska at which the Bureau of Fisheries has important interests-is so difficult that relief ought to be provided as far as conditions allow. I recommend more especially that wireless stations be established at Dutch Harbor or Unalaska, and also on the Pribilof Islands. This would go far to protect the inhabitants of the islands, who are wards of the Government, and would also aid in protecting the seal herds on the islands. The commanders of the revenue cutters join in this recommendation on the ground that their operations for the protection of the seal herds against pelagic sealing would be distinctly strengthened.

Upon the Aleutian Islands different varieties of fox and other furbearing animals have up to this time been abundant. The supply has been much reduced because substantially no protection has been exercised. To all intents and purposes these animals have been subject to general slaughter, and it is claimed that frequently large numbers of them are poisoned by strangers, among them aliens, for the mere purpose of procuring the skins. If these islands, or some of them, were declared to be reservations, and could then be leased under proper conditions, it is believed that these fur-bearing animals could be fairly conserved, giving the natives reasonable means of self-support, and resulting in an industry of some value.

INTERNATIONAL FISHERY RELATIONS.

At the request of the Department of State the Bureau again detailed a representative to act as observer of the operations of the modus vivendi adopted pending the final determination of the rights of American fishermen on the coast of Newfoundland. At the end of the fiscal year the case was under adjudication before the international tribunal at The Hague, two representatives of the Bureau being present as advisers on technical fishery matters to the counsel of the United States. As in the preceding year, assistance was rendered to the International Fisheries Commission in connection with regulations to give effect to the treaty of April 8, 1908, between the United States. and Great Britain, providing for joint control by the United States and Canada of the fisheries in waters contiguous to their common boundary line.

LIGHT-HOUSE SERVICE.

In my report for the fiscal year 1909 reasons were presented in advocacy of the reorganization of the Light-House Service with a view to securing therein more direct, simple, and economical methods of administration.

This matter received consideration at the last session of Congress. The act approved June 17, 1910, which became effective July 1, 1910, discontinued the Light-House Board and created in lieu thereof a Bureau of Light-Houses, under a Commissioner of Light-Houses, to be appointed by the President. The act made provision also for appointment by the President of a Deputy Commissioner, a chief constructing engineer, and a superintendent of naval construction in the Bureau of Light-Houses. The act also provides as follows:

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That the commissioner of light-houses, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, as soon as practicable, shall rearrange the ocean, gulf, and lake coasts and the rivers of the United States, Porto Rico, and the naval station in Cuba into not exceeding nineteen light-house districts, and a light-house inspector shall be assigned in charge of each district. The President may, for a period not exceeding three years from the taking effect of this section, assign army and navy officers to act in lieu of the appointment of civilian light-house inspectors, but such army and navy officers shall not receive any salary or compensation in addition to the salary or compensation they are entitled to as such army or navy officers: Provided, That in the districts which include the Mississippi River and its tributaries the President may designate army engineers to perform the duties of and act as inspectors. The President may detail officers of the Engineer Corps of the United States Army for consultation or to superintend the construction or repair of any aid to navigation authorized by Congress.

In pursuance of the provisions of this law a Commissioner and a Deputy Commissioner were appointed to take office on July 1, 1910. Congress made no appropriation during its last session for salaries of the civilian light-house inspectors authorized in the act, and therefore no steps have been taken toward the appointment of such inspectors.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910, the Light-House Service, which is charged with the maintenance of, and has jurisdiction over, all aids to navigation, established 49 lights above the order of post-lantern lights, 16 fog-signals, 7 submarine signals, 78 daymarks, 751 buoys, and 215 post-lantern lights, and completed the erection of about 18 oil houses. The appropriation for lightkeepers' dwellings was applied during the year to the construction of dwellings at 13 stations.