PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 1926 589 
All of this, you will admit, has a distinctly modern flavor, but he concludes ” 
that in order to neutralize destructive tendencies in the fisheries it is necessary 
to do three things: 
1. To preserve fish waters, especially those inland, as nearly as it may be possibte in 
their normal condition. 
2. To prevent wasteful or immoderate fishing. 
3. To put into practice the art of fish breeding: (a) To aid in maintaining a natural 
supply; (Uv) to repair the effects of past improvidences; and (c) to increase the supply 
beyond its natural limits rapidly enough to meet the necessities of a constantly increasing 
population. 
The difference between present-day opinions and those announced a half 
century ago will be given more consideration later, but the failure to emphasize 
and to analyze carefully the fact of depletion and to determine and remove its 
causes, particularly in the great shore and marine fisheries, or to recognize 
and take advantage of the natural fluctuation in the abundance of the fish 
supply in the sea, may be understood readily and condoned when it is remem- 
bered that 50 years ago our Nation was still young, that untouched natural 
resources awaited exploitation and development, and that the extent of present- 
day needs, with the resulting strain on the fisheries, was undreamed of. 
Furthermore, the great promise and the popular success of fish culture induced 
a complacent confidence, as it was believed that the control of the fish supply 
was within easy grasp. This confidence may be illustrated by Goode’s words: 
“Here the fish culturist comes in with the proposition ‘that it is cheaper to 
make fish so plenty by artificial means, that every fisherman may take all 
he can catch, than to enforce a code of protection laws.’ The salmon rivers 
of the Pacific slope,’ he continues, “and the shad rivers of the Hast and the 
whitefish fisheries of the lakes are now so thoroughly under control by the 
fish-culturist that it is doubtful if any one will venture to contradict his as- 
sertion. The question now is whether he can extend his domain to other 
species.” 
How well founded was his faith in the all-effectiveness of fish culture in 
maintaining or restoring the fisheries in the face of all possible destructive 
influences may be seen by the fate of the three great fisheries that he chose 
as illustrations. Despite 55 years of artificial propagation, the Pacific salmon 
fishery has declined alarmingly, the pack in Puget Sound 1 in 1924 amounting 
to but 12 per cent of the peak production in 1913. The shad fisheries of the 
east coast have declined, on the whole, 74 per cent from 1896 to 19238, and now 
are totally destroyed in many of our rivers.12. The whitefish fisheries of the 
lakes, despite an annual distribution of 409,000,000 eggs and fry per year,12 
have declined in yield from first place in 1880 to fourth place in 1922, with a 
yield only slightly greater than that of suckers. 
These statements should not be construed as an attack on fish culture in gen- 
eral, for the success and utility of the artificial propagation of many species is 
proved so fully that blame or praise from me is unnecessary. The entire system 
should not be condemned because the too optimistic hopes of its early advocates 
have not been realized; and if present methods fail to produce reasonably 
expected results, a measure of the blame should fall on the aquatic biologist who 
neglects this phase of fishery science and on the fishery administrator who 
accepts hatchery records uncritically as proof of the real abundance of fish. 
While the early years of the United States Fish Commission may be charac- 
terized as the era of fish-cultural development, the liberal policy with regard 
to scientific research resulted in the production of a rich and varied literature 
dealing with many phases of marine and aquatic biology, in which surveys and 
explorations, with the cataloguing and description of animals new to science, 
were most prominent. The type of biology popular during the first three 
decades of the commission’s work is indicated by the fact that 71 per cent of 
papers on the biology of fisheries (13 per cent of all papers), in the document 
series, were devoted to systematic ichthyclogy, and papers on other marine 




10 Tdem, p. 1148. 
4 Pacific Fisherman Year Book for 1925, p. 76. 
2 The total yield of the shad industry of the Atlantic coast. from records of the U.S. 
Bureau of Fisheries: 1880, 18,134,534 pounds; 1888, 35.635,714 pounds; 1896, 50,498,860 
pounds; 1908, 25,938.500 pounds; 1919 to 1923, 13,236,948 pounds. 
18 The output of whitefish eggs and fry has been as follows: 1925, 172,970,000; 1924, 
372,780,000 ; 1923. 537,546,000 ; 1922, 623,100,000 ; 1921, 420,450,000. Total, 2,126,846,000 ; 
average, 425,369,000. 1920. 390,365,000; 1919, 310,365,000; 1918, 484,032,000; 1917, 
384.212.500: 1916, 391,155,000. Total, 1,960,129,000; average, 392,026,000. Ten-year 
total, 4,086,975,000 ; 10-year average, 408,698,000. 
