REPORT 



OF THE 



COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



Department of Commerce, 



Bureau of Fisheries, 



Wasliington, October 4, 1917. 

 Sir: There is submitted herewith a report covering in outline the 

 operations and activities of the Bureau of Fisheries during the fiscal 

 year ended June 30, 1917. 



GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE CONSIDERATIONS. 



The past fiscal year may properly be regarded as the most im- 

 portant and successful in the recent history of the Bureau. The 

 service was better equipped than ever before in both material facili- 

 ties and personnel; it received liberal financial support from Congress 

 and generous criticism and appreciation from the public; it was 

 enabled to extend and expand its activities so as to serve in a most 

 acceptable manner a large usefulness to the fishing industrj^ and the 

 country at large; it was privileged to make special adaptation of its 

 investigational and technical operations to meet the gi-eat national 

 emergency; and at the beginning of the current fiscal year its outlook 

 for continued and increased usefulness in all lines of activity was 

 most promising. 



The Bureau's administrative staff at headquarters at the beginning 

 of the fiscal year consisted of H. F. Moore, Deputy Commissioner; 

 Irving H. Dunlap, assistant in charge of office; Hemy O'Mallej^, 

 assistant in charge of fish culture; Robert E. Coker, assistant m 

 charge of inquiry respecting food fishes and the fishing grounds; 

 Alvin B. Alexander, assistant in charge of statistics and methods 

 of fisheries; and Ward T. Bower, chief agent of the Alaska service. 

 On October 31, 1916, the death of Mr. Alexander deprived the 

 Bureau of an able and loyal employee, who had been in the service 

 since 1887 and chief of division since 1903. He was succeeded by 

 Lewis Radcliffe, who has been in the Bureau since 1907, serving for 

 two years as director of the biological laboratory at Beaufort, N. C, 

 and later as assistant in the division of scientific inquiry. To each 

 of the foregoing and to the rank and file throughout the country 

 the Commissioner extends his appreciative thanks and commends 

 them to the Secretary for efficient and faithful service that has 

 made the year exceptionally fruitful. 



