Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries to study the 

 "decrease of the food fishes of the seacoasts and 

 lakes of the United States, and to suggest remedial 

 measures.*' 



The new Commission, which started out with an 

 initial appropriation of $5,000, functioned as an inde- 

 pendent establishment of the Government from 1871 to 

 1903. In 1903, it was placed in the newly established 

 Department of Commerce and Labor and was renamed 

 the Bureau of Fisheries. In 1913, the Department of 

 Labor was separated from Commerce and the Bureau 

 of Fisheries remained in the Department of Commerce 

 until 1939. 



Originally, the Fish Commission was organized to 

 carry on scientific, statistical, and economic investi- 

 gations of the fisheries. In 1872, however, on the 

 insistence of the American Fish Cultural Association, 

 the Congress authorized the Commission to establish 

 fish hatcheries for the propagation of food fishes and 

 appropriated $15,000 for this work. 



New duties were added through the years. In 1905, 

 the Bureau became responsible for the administration 

 and enforcement of the laws protecting the salmon 

 fisheries of Alaska, and in 1910 it was given control of 

 the fur seals and foxes of the Pribilof Islands in 

 Bering Sea. 



In 1906 the Bureau became responsible for enforc- 

 ing an act to regulate the taking of sponges in waters 

 of the Gulf of Mexico and off the coasts of Florida. In 

 1920 it was given supervision of the conservation of 

 sea otters, walruses, and other aquatic mammals in 

 Alaska. Enforcement of the act relating to the inter- 

 state transportation of black bass was entrusted to the 

 Bureau in 1930; administration of the act authorizing 

 cooperative associations of producers of aquatic 

 products, in 1935; and certain functions connected with 

 the administration of the Whaling Treaty Act, in 1936. 



Since its origin in 1871, the primary functions of 

 the Federal fishery agency however, have been investi- 

 gational and advisory. With the exception of Alaska 

 while a territory, the Bureau has been without power 

 to regulate the fisheries, either sport or commercial. 

 Control of the fisheries within its borders is vested in 

 the State and is one of the powers that was not given 

 to the Federal Government under the Constitution of 

 the United States. 



