Department of Commerce, 



Bureau of Fisheries, 



Washington^ July 2, 1928. 

 The honorable the Secretary of Commerce. 



Dear Mr. Secretary : I have the honor to submit the following 

 report of the major operations of the Bureau of Fisheries during the 

 fiscal year ended June 80, 1928. 



The enlivening of the public conscience to the need for proper 

 husbandry of our fisheries resources is the most heartening feature 

 of the present fisheries situation. Greater interest in outdoor recre- 

 ational pursuits and the development of strong organizations that are 

 sponsoring the conservation of wild life have enlisted the active sup- 

 port of hundreds of thousands of our people in insuring the per- 

 petuity of our fisherj^ resources, as a result of which Federal and 

 State agencies are expanding their facilities for handling and dis- 

 tributing fish and eggs for stocking streams in an eifort to maintain 

 the fish supply. The output of fish and eggs from the bureau's 

 stations in 1927 exceeded 7,000,000,000, an increase of more than 550,- 

 000,000 over the high record of 1926. The number of cooperative 

 fish nurseries increased from 55 in 1927 to 8G in 1928, distributed in 

 11 States. As a consequence of this expansion in hatching and rearing 

 facilities, many more fish are reared to a length of 3 or 4 inches 

 before being released in natural streams and ponds. 



The commercial fisheries of the United States, too, apparently are 

 in a stronger economic condition than those of any other large fish- 

 producing country in the world to-daj^, and they have come to ap- 

 preciate better the importance of proper husbandry to insure conti- 

 nuity of supply. 



Coincident wnth these developments is the groAvth® of a greater 

 appreciation of the work of the scientist. By placing fisheries re- 

 search on a more practical basis, the fisheries biologist has demon- 

 strated the value of such research in determining the character of 

 legislation needed, and therel^y has created a greater demand for his 

 services. A case in point is the strengthening of regulations in 

 Alaska to insure an adequate escapement of salmon to the spawning 

 grounds, as a result of scientific investigation of these fisheries, which 

 is recognized generally as a sound economic development worthy of 

 the support of all those interested in perpetuating these fisheries. 

 The trained scientific aciuiculturist has clemonstrated the importance 

 of studies of diseases, nutrition, selective breeding, fertilization of 

 w'ater areas, and many other problems encountered by the fish farmer, 

 the grower of goldfish and other aquarium fishes, the 03'ster farmer, 

 and those engaged in other branches of water farming. The techno- 

 logical section of the bureau has become more and more a postgrad- 

 uate school for workers interested in such research, Avith the result 

 that since the inception of this work a decade ago, each year has 



