U.S. FEDERAL FISHERY RESEARCH ON THE GREAT LAKES 



THROUGH 1956 



INTROCUCTION 



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 continuing research program by 

 the Fish and WildUfe Service. -L' It is believed 

 that this purpose can be served best by prefac- 

 ing that bibliography with a brief account of the 

 origins of Great Lakes Fishery Investigations 

 and of the circumstances that have guided their 

 course. 



Great Lakes Fishery Investigations, 

 with John Van Oosten as the first Chief, was 

 established in 1927. This establishment did 

 not mark the actual beginning of modern re- 

 search on the Great Lakes fisheries, for Walter 

 N. Koelz (who resigned in 1927) 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 1918. Actually, the Federal con- 

 tribution 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 dis- 

 appearance of the Lake Erie Cisco, Great Lakes 

 Fishery Investigations has forever since ex- 

 perienced the varying fortunes that inevitably 

 befall an organization whose very life depends 

 J_/ To avoid confusion the title Fish and Wildlife 

 Service will be employed throughout this discus- 

 sion even though the joining of the Bureau of 

 Fisheries and the Bureau of Biological Survey to 

 form the Service did not take place until 1940. 



on the existence of emergencies that cry for 

 attention.—' Seldom has money been adequate 

 to the task assigned; commonly it was supple- 

 mented by funds from State and private agencies 

 interested in particular problems; never until 

 most recently 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 productivity. 



Thus the history of Federal researches 

 on the Great Lakes has been one of loosely re- 

 lated projects. Only a glance at the record of 

 funds is needed (table 1) to understand how futile 

 it would have been to attempt continuing observa- 

 tions on even a small segment of these extensive 

 and scattered fisheries. Yet for all the discon- 

 tinuity and lack of a sustained central program. 

 Great Lakes Fishery Investigations has not been 

 ineffective. Not only were satisfactory solutions 

 found to the several practical problems that at- 

 tracted outside support to the individual projects 

 in earlier years; in addition, staff members 

 have published many and varied reports which, 

 as an examination of the bibliography given later 

 in this article will prove, have made available a 

 large store of information on the Great Lakes 

 fisheries. These past studies have provided 

 much of the foundation for an effective inquiry 

 into the factors that control the productivity of 

 the Great Lakes. 



THE GREAT LAKES RESEARCH 

 PROGRAM, 1927-1956 



The research program of the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service on the Great Lakes divides it- 

 self conveniently into three distinct periods: 

 the early years, 1927-32, of intensive field work 

 on a variety of projects; an intermediate period, 

 1933-47, of stringently reduced budgets; and the 

 present era in which primary concerns are re- 

 search on methods for the control of the sea 

 2/ Annual reviews of the activities of Great 

 Lakes Fishery investigations may be found in: 

 Progress in biological inquiries by Elmer Higglns. 

 Reports of the U.S. Commissioner of Fisheries 

 for 1927-1939. 



