availability of a sea-going research vessel. Continued and 

 uninterrupted observations in the open ocean are essential 

 for the success of this work. It is apparent that the work 

 of such magnitude can not be carried on by a single institution. 

 Together with a number of organizations and agencies 

 concerned with marine sciences, the Fisheries Biological 

 Laboratory at Woods Hole is ready to contribute its share 

 in oceanographic research and to assume a leading role in 

 the studies of fisheries, their conservation and utilization, 

 the goal which was formulated 90 years ago by Baird. It is 

 remarkable that the present day ideas of oceanic research 

 are essentially those which the great founder of this Laboratory 

 so eloquently expressed in his reports, in his statements to 

 Congress, and in his remarkable instructions to the men he 

 sent to explore the secrets of the ocean. 



Let us hope that the ideals of Spencer F. Baird shall 

 remain alive and will continue to stimulate the young generation 

 of scientists who have now at their disposal the wonderful tools 

 of research that could not have been imagined at the time the 

 first marine biological station in the United States was founded. 



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