1814 Journal of Applied Microscopy 



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Journal of 



Applied Microscopy 



and 



Laboratory Methods 



Edited by L. B. ELLIOTT. 



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The bill introduced last December by Senator James Macmillan, authorizing 

 the establishment of a Biological Station on the Great Lakes, under the control 

 of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, has been favorably 

 reported, and if the members of our National legislative body are as familiar 

 with the necessity for such a station and the improvement in the Great Lakes 

 fisheries which would follow its establishment, as the readers of this Journal, 

 the bill will become a law, as we trust it will, without opposition. Dr. Jacob 

 Reighard, of the University of Michigan, has been instrumental in securing the 

 introduction of this bill and in demonstrating the necessity for such a station 

 through his investigations on the lakes for a number of years past, and in a 

 letter under date of April 12th, he writes in part as follows : 



About ^6,600,000 is invested in the fisheries of the Great Lakes. Nearly 10,000 persons 

 are employed, and the annual product has a value of about $2,600,000. Commercially con- 

 sidered this interest is certainly great enough to warrant consideration at the hands of the 

 government. 



Concerning even the most important of the food fishes of the Great Lakes our knowledge 

 is very meager. I may illustrate this by the following specific cases. (1) The sturgeon is one 

 of the most valuable of these fishes, sturgeon products having been worth about $81,000 in 

 1899; and yet we do not know enough of the spawning habits and spawning places of the 

 sturgeon of the Great Lakes to be able to procure the eggs for artificial propagation. The 

 sturgeon is rapidly disappearing. With adequate knowledge there is reason to believe that 

 means might be found to increase it. (2) We know nothing of the life history of the young 

 whitefish from the time its eggs are laid until the young whitefish are some eight inches long. 

 A more accurate knowledge of the life history of this fish might readily lead to a rehabilitation 

 of the fisheries, which, in some regions, are wholly depleted. In general it may be said that we 

 know even less of the other commercial fishes than we do of the two that I have mentioned, 

 and we know still less of the food and enemies of these fishes and of the conditions under 

 which they pass their lives. 



For the past four years the U. S. Fish Commission has endeavored to fill the gaps in our 

 knowledge by means of studies carried on during the summer season by parties of scientific 

 men working under the general direction of the writer. The Fish Commission has, however, 

 no permanent establishment for carrying on this work and no funds specifically for this purpose. 

 Although much has been accomplished by this summer work, it has served to show that the 

 information that is of greatest practical use to the fisheries can only be obtained when ^\ork is 

 carried on throughout the year in a permanent establishment, zvith a permanent staff. 



The services of scientific men connected with the universities are available for continuous 

 work only during a few weeks in the summer. The migrations and spawning of the commercial 

 fishes do not take place at this time, nor are many of the more important commercial fisheries 

 in operation at this time. It seems to me then that ^permanent scientific establishment, with an 

 independent staff, is needed on the Great Lakes, in the interest of the fisheries. 



Such establishments the United States Fish Commission already has for the Marine Fish- 

 eries at Woods Holl, Mass., and at Beaufort, N. C. Much has been accomplished at these 

 stations directly in the interests of the Cod, Lobster, and Oyster fisheries, besides much purely 

 scientific work, which is certain ultimately to be of practical use to the fisherie.s. 



