190 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
the laboratory will center on the development of more efficient means 
for capturing local species, on exploration of nearby fishing banks to 
locate productive fishing areas, on technological improvement of 
processing methods, on means for distributing the preserved catch to 
the people of the island, and on the biology of various important 
aquatic forms. Some work may also be done on the culiure and dis- 
tribution of fresh-water fishes to augment the very effective work in 
this field now being done by the local fishery agency. The fisheries of 
the Virgin Islands of the United States will also benefit by research at 
this laboratory. 
Located at the “cross roads”? between North and South America, 
the new laboratory will also serve as a focal point for fishery research 
in the American republics. In addition to the permanent research 
staff which will be assigned to the laboratory, it is planned to employ 
a group of student assistants, recruited from various American repub- 
lics, to assist in the research work of the laboratory. After a training 
period of about 2 years, these assistants would be in a position to aid 
their own governments in solving their local fishery problems. 
In this connection the Bureau has received numerous requests from 
other American republics for the detail of fishery investigators to 
assist in the development of their local fisheries. Some assistance 
has already been given and further work is contemplated durmg the 
coming year. However, the requests for this type of service are 
greater than our ability to serve. It is believed, therefore, the estab- 
lishment of the laboratory in Puerto Rico will be of material assistance 
in this direction. 
STATISTICS 
In the development and prosecution of a fishery, it is important that 
statistics be collected and published on its yield and abundance. 
This is most necessary in order to evaluate the condition and trend of 
the fishery from the standpoint of conservation and sustained produc- 
tion. In the main there is a lack of statistical formation on the 
fisheries of most of the countries of the Western Hemisphere. This 
situation was brought to the attention of delegates from various 
American republics attending the Eighth American Scientific Congress 
at Washington, D. C., in May 1940, in an address by the writer before 
the statistical section of the Congress on the subject ‘“Need and plan 
for a statistical program in furthering conservation of Inter-American 
fisheries.” > The delegates showed considerable interest toward the 
development of such a program and as a result the statistical section 
of the Congress, and the Congress in plenary session, passed the 
following resolution: 
Since the fishing industry represents a great natural resource both from the 
national and inter-American viewpoints— 
BE IT RESOLVED by the Eighth American Scientific Congress that the 
Inter-American Statistical Institute be requested to devise a plan in accordance 
with which the American Republics may collect and publish fishery statistics in a 
uniform manner. 
The Inter-American Statistical Institute, based on the lines of the 
International Statistical Institute, was formed at the time of the 
congress by the American members of the International organization. 
3 Published as Fisheries Memorandum S-352, U, S. Bureau of Fisheries, Washington, May 1940. 
