THE STORY OF THE BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL 



FISHERIES BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY 



WOODS HOLE, MASSACHUSE nS 



By Paul S. Galtsoff 



I. Early Years of Woods Hole 



On a June day in 1871, a large, well-dressed, distinguish- 

 ed man in his fifties stepped briskly from the coach that brought 

 the passengers of the Old Colony Railroad from Monument Beach 

 to Woods Hole. The face of the newcomer, with his well- trimmed, 

 slightly curly beard and shaved upper lip, was familiar to some of 

 the local residents gathered to watch the daily arrival of the coach. 

 They recognized him as an important person from Washington who, 

 in 1863, came here to spend part of the summer fishing and resting. 

 The visitor knew the location of the village's only inn; where most 

 of the tourists stopped and waited for the steamer to take them to 

 the islands. He walked rapidly carrying his briefcase and did not 

 appear, to be tired after the 20 mile ride on a dusty road. The train 

 service to Woods Hole was not expected to begin before the next 

 summer when the Old Colony Line promised to open the last section 

 that was now under construction. The event seemed to be trivial, 

 and the arrival of the newcomer was not reported in local news- 

 papers. It marked, however, the beginning of a new era for Woods 

 Hole; for his arrival initiated a long series of events which changed 

 the destiny of a small New England fishing settlement into an inter- 

 nationally famous center of research in marine sciences and oceanic 

 fisheries. 



An observant person probably would have noticed on the face 

 of the man the signs of dynamic power, determination, and perse- 

 verance which distinguished him from ordinary summer tourists 

 who were coming to Cape Cod in ever increasing numbers. The new- 

 comer was the famous zoologist and naturalist, Spencer Fullerton 

 Baird, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and newly 

 appointed, by President Ulysses Grant, first U.S. Commissioner 

 of Fisheries (fig. 1), He faced the enormous task and great respon- 

 sibility of organizing the new branch of government service deal- 

 ing with the conservation of natural aquatic resources which appear- 

 ed to decline under intensive exploitation. 



