BUREAU OF FISHERIES XXIII 



been necessary, however, to point out to the industry that while there 

 are problems that the bureau can attack properly, there are others 

 that the industry must solve for itself. The latter generally are not 

 of a technological nature but are purely matters of management, 

 Avherein great savings may be made by applying sound business prin- 

 ciples. The bureau's technologists are fitted to point out to the 

 industry the sources of loss in a plant, but the prevention of the loss 

 is a problem to be solved by the jDersons affected. 



A prominent feature of this year's work has been the greater num- 

 ber of contacts made in the field, whereby the problems of the indus- 

 try have been learned first hand. Manufacturers of equipment have 

 been informed of oj^portunities to introduce their products to the 

 fishing industries with mutual profit, and the bureau has itself tested 

 equipment when advisable and practicable. A temporary field lab- 

 oratory has been established at Reedville, Va., mainly to study the 

 problems of the menhaden and by-products industries ; another has 

 been established at Brunswick, Ga., for the study of shrimp by- 

 jDroducts problems ; and a third at Erie, Pa., for investigations of net 

 preservation on the Great Lakes. 



During the fiscal year the entire personnel of the technological staff 

 changed, which considerably interrupted the progress of work. For- 

 tunately this was not a sheer loss, because most of these men took posi- 

 tions in the fisheiy industries, where their previous training is still of 

 benefit to the fisheries ; but the progress of the bureau's work has been 

 disturbed seriously, none the less, principally because the bureau has 

 been understaffed with technologists, particularly in the junior and 

 assistant grades, more of whom are needed urgently to minimize such 

 losses. 



Net preservation. — ^The work on net preservatives has reached such 

 a point, in the case of trap nets in salt water, that final tests will be 

 made soon to determine the virtues of various treatments upon a cost 

 basis alone. Nearly 100 dilferently treated samples of twine were 

 exposed at the Beaufort (N. C.) station diiring the last year. Test 

 panels containing 10 of the most promising treatments have been 

 placed in commercial fishing locations in order to determine the cheap- 

 est and most efficient preservative. The results of these final tests and 

 the experiments leading to them will be published as soon as war- 

 ranted, for work of this nature is inevitabl}^ slow because of the time 

 required to produce sufficient deterioration in the exposed samples. 

 The formula of a satisfactory treatment has been published, pending 

 further developments. This preservative is of very general utility 

 and costs approximately one-third as much as the best commercial 

 treatment heretofore available. It consists of cuprous and mercuric 

 oxides and tar. The solvent is water-gas tar oil. which is cheap 

 though not always easily available. No other solvent is quite as 

 efficacious. 



The problem of preserving nets in fresh water has not reached as 

 satisfactory a stage as the work upon gear exposed in salt water. 

 This is due, in part, to the lack of proper experimental conditions 

 (whicli W'ill be remedied by an investigation recently begun on Lake 

 Erie) and in part to the more severe conditions encountered. The 

 results of the bureau's previous investigations show that the working 



