Introduction 



The major purpose of this publication is to present an annotated 

 bibliography of papers resulting from Federal investigations on the 

 Great Lakes fish and fisheries since the formal initiation of a con- 

 tinuing research program by the Fish and Wildlife Service. i^ It is 

 believed that this purpose can be served best by prefacing that bibli- 

 ography with a brief account of the origins of Great Lakes Fishery 

 Investigations, of the circumstances that have guided their course, 

 and of the scientists who have participated in the several studies. 



Great Lakes Fishery Investigation^ with John Van Oosten as the 

 first Chief., was established in 1927» This establishment did not 

 mark the actual beginning of modern research on the Great Lakes fish- 

 eries, for Walter N, Koelz (who resigned in 192?) had been on the 

 staff of the Division of Scientific Inquiry (now the Branch of Fishery 

 Biology) since 1918 and Van Oosten since 1920. The term, "program]; 

 can hardly be applied to the early investigations that started in 

 19180 Actually^ the Federal contribution amounted to little more 

 than grants-in-aid to the personal and largely independent researches 

 of Koelz on the taxonomy of Great Lakes coregonids and of Van Oosten 

 on the life histories of the lake herring and whitefish. (The work of 

 this period led nevertheless to three monumental contributions to 

 fishery literature — Koelz' (1929) monograph on the coregonids of the 

 Great Lakes and Van Oosten 's papers on the scales of whitefish of 

 known age (1923) and on the life history of the lake herring of Lake 

 Huron (1929).) 



Born in the crisis arising from the disappearance of the Lake 

 Erie cisco, Great Lakes Fishery Investigations has forever since 

 experienced the varying fortunes that inevitably befall an organiza- 

 tion whose very life depends on the existence of emergencies that cry 

 for attention. 2^/ Seldom has money been adequate to the task assigned; 

 commonly it was supplemented by funds from State and private agencies 

 interested in particular problems; never could long-term researches be 

 set up that would contribute to a fundamental understanding of the 

 fish populations and of the factors that control their level of pro- 

 ductivity. 



1/ To avoid confusion the title Fish and Wildlife Service will be em- 

 ployed throughout this discussion even though the joining of the 

 Bureau of Fisheries and the Bureau of Biological Survey to form the 

 Service did not take place until 19 UO. 



2_/ Annual reviews of the activities of Great Lakes Fishery Investi- 

 gations may be found inj Progress in biological inquiries, by Elmer 

 Higgins. Reports of the U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries for 1927- 

 1939. 



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