PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 1926 595 
crawfish, some for the reduction of fish into oil and scrap; a storage 
tank that will hoid 26,000 gallons of oil; another tank for holding 400 
gallons of oil; and the statement has been made that if the African 
venture is not successful, they will turn to Greenland or even to our 
own North Atlantic banks. 
The problems of the fisheries are no longer State or National, but 
international. How are you going to govern these things unless it is 
through international agreement? The trend and condition of a 
fishery can be ascertained only after long study and research. ‘Take 
our own North Atlantic fishing banks; we do not know what the con- 
ditions are that obtain there. Next year we may have a “rum row” 
exploiting these fisheries in a manner unparalleled in our history, and 
the only way we can control these conditions is by a “round table ” 
of international statesmen and diplomats to solve such international 
problems. The biologist must produce something that will show us 
where these fisheries are bound; and then pass it on in a form to be 
sold to the diplomats and statesmen for their use in order to get 
proper regulation. 
I have the deepest sympathy for the fisherman. I think that too 
often we forget the conditions under which the individual fisherman 
operates. Our fishermen receive about $97,000,000 for their harvest. 
Less than $500 per fisherman. Think of them in the winter; two of 
them in a small dory, operating in the lanes of steamers, facing death, 
under all kinds of weather conditions. Nearly every week the papers 
in New England tell of some fishing vessel returning with at least 
one or two of the men missing from the crew. The men who operate 
under these conditions can not be expected to have a perspective that 
will enable them to say just what is best for the fishery as a whole. 
Mr. Scorreip. I would like to hear some one discuss a question I 
would like to bring up. I had more or less to say about the use of 
the sardine in California, outside of the 3-mile limit, for reduction 
purposes. I have been asked the question, “Why do we care if 
they use the sardine for reduction purposes, if our investigations have 
not shown that the sardine is decreasing in abundance in California?” 
The sardine is being guarded against exploitation by the reduction 
plants within the State, and I was going to suggest that as a topic. 
I think there are some here who might have something to say along 
that line. 
Mr. Hicerns. I think Mr. Thompson has thought on that question 
perhaps as much as any of us. I am going to ask his opinion. 
Mr. THompson. Mr. Sette showed on one of his graphs the enor- 
mous importance of the menhaden fisheries. That importance is 
entirely due to the expansion in the market for oils. I can see where 
the possible limit to expansion is—that is, a fishery that will take 
absolutely everything that the net brings in—and some time in the 
future we may find ourselves with a situation we can’t very well 
control. I think Mr. Scofield’s attitude in advocating the restric- 
tion of such fisheries as the sardine for fertilizer is a sound one as a 
general state policy. The danger is not so much what may happen 
to-day as it is allowing the growth of a great industry that can not 
be controlled when the time comes to control it. 
Doctor Ricu. I have always wondered why edible fats might not 
be as legitimate a use for a fishery as food alone. Might not the 
