REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 23 



V. The Continued Examination of the Physical and Bio- 

 logical Conditions of the Waters of the Bay, Begun 

 in 1898. 



Your commission has for a long time felt the need of a thorough 

 biological and physical survey of the Bay, a census which will place 

 on record in accessible form accurate information in regard to the 

 occurrence, distribution, and abundance of animals and plants, the 

 range of temperature, and density of the water, purity of the water, 

 the extent of the shores and the character of the soil in all parts 

 of the Bay. During the progress of the special investigations of 

 the star-fish, clams, scallops, lobsters, etc., the importance of pos- 

 sessing such information has become more and more evident. Suc- 

 cess in the artificial propagation of any species, or effective legisla- 

 tion in regard to it, is immediately dependent upon a knowledge of 

 the abundance, distribution, rate of production and natural re- 

 quirements of the species in question. 



These facts as applied to some particular instances are commonly 

 appreciated. No special argument is necessary to convince the 

 oystermen that the oysters and star-fish have intimate relations 

 with one another. The arguments of the scallop and quahaug 

 fishermen in opposing, at public hearings, the leasing of certain new 

 oyster grounds rest upon exactly such facts. The everlasting con- 

 troversy between anglers and trap fishermen, which has sometimes 

 resulted in the closing of a large industry, is waged over the un- 

 certain effect of trap-fishing on the abundance of the vast schools 

 of migratory fishes whose movements are unknown and whose 

 alternate periods of increase and decrease, extending through many 

 years, are at present absolutely inexplicable. Even well-known 

 international contentions of far reaching significance are based 

 upon unproven theories regarding the migration of fish. 



Your commission is not indulging in impossible dreams of a mil- 

 lennium, when all these intricate relationships between animals and 

 plants and their physical environment shall be reduced to mathe- 



