PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 25. 79 



General Report. 



Introduction. --In many respects the most fundamental and therefore 

 necessary activity of a State fish and game commission is the research 

 work of its biological department. It is the criterion by which the essen- 

 tial efficiency and progress of your commission is judged by other States, 

 and the benefits resulting from the investigations are not merely limited to 

 Massachusetts, but, through correlation with other States, are of national 

 importance, for instance, experimental work upon the shellfisheries. Only 

 through such investigations can your department of fisheries and game 

 hold that reputation and standard of progress which Massachusetts has 

 ever endeavored to maintain. 



It is a self-evident fact that methods, however efficient in the past, 

 when obsolete must be supplanted by new systems. Every branch of the 

 world's activities has to advance or be swallowed in the maelstrom in 

 the struggle for existence. In the same manner a State department of 

 fisheries and game, to develop, must constantly advance by improving its 

 methods, by correctly diagnosing the problems involved in its activities 

 and by disseminating this information for the education of the public. 

 These results can be achieved only by definite and discreet experimental 

 work along necessary lines. This type of service the biological depart- 

 ment renders to the Commonwealth. 



The biologist is the pioneer who blazes the trail and indicates possible 

 lines of developing natural resources. His duties are wide and varied. 

 In one sense he is the real efficiency man who tests the value of the present 

 methods of rearing fish and game, and as the result of these experiments 

 institutes improvements. He studies the life history and the habits of 

 the fish and the game, and then brings the application of this scientific 

 knowledge to bear upon the solution of economic and commercial prob- 

 lems. The need for experimental work is constantly increasing, and many 

 opportunities for more intelligently conserving our natural resources in 

 fish, birds and animals are continually presented by such efforts. 



The investigations of the biological department have been conducted 

 upon various phases of fishery development, both salt and fresh water, 

 and upon certain problems in bird propagation. Several problems, some 

 now complete, others still unfinished, have been studied during the past 

 three years. Suitable provision for publication of results of scientific 

 investigations upon fish and game life should be made, and the money 

 apportioned for the annual report should be ample and sufficient to cover 

 all the numerous phases of 4;he work. Otherwise, the decidedly beneficial 

 results of such work cannot be brought quickly to the attention of the 

 public, and a large number of people thereby cannot obtain information 

 that might be of immediate financial benefit. Since the results of the in- 

 vestigations of the past three years, in all probability, will be published 

 later in special reports, the following list may be of benefit to readers who 

 are interested in fish and game propagation : - 



