116 U.S. BUKEAU OF FISHERIES 



Virtually all of the field work conducted on the Great Lakes in 

 1932 was confined to Lake Michigan (including Green Bay) and Lake 

 Huron. One investigator carried on some field work on Lake Erie 

 during the period, April 5-20. No new projects were started in 1932 

 and all the major field investigations begun in years previous to 1932 

 were brought to a close. The completion of these field investigations 

 was made possible only by the financial support given by the States 

 of Michigan and Wisconsin. The Bureau continued its cordial rela- 

 tions with the various Great Lake States and provided them with 

 considerable information and scientific data that were used as a basis 

 in the consideration of new regulations o the commercial fisheries. 

 The Bureau has been particularly active in its endeavors to secure 

 uniform legislation on the Great Lakes especially on Lakes Erie and 

 Michigan. This is evident from the fact that during the past year 

 Dr. Van Gosten attended some 15 conferences with State officials 

 and fishermen for the purpose of presenting data and discussing or 

 proposing new fisheries regulations. 



In this connection it is of extreme interest to report the establish- 

 ment of a permanent advisory committee whose primary duties are 

 to consider and study all uniform legislation proposed for the fisher- 

 ies of Lake Erie and to make recommendations and give advice to 

 the departments of each State fronting Lake Erie and to the Province 

 of Ontario. This Lake Erie Advisory Committee is composed of one 

 representative from each participating State, the Province of Ontario, 

 and the Bureau of Fisheries. Dr. Van Oosten was appointed chair- 

 man of this committee. The committee met twice in 1932 and 

 through it the various States and the Province of Ontario were ena- 

 bled to come to an agreement, making uniform certain proposed reg- 

 ulations on Lake Erie. The establishment of this committee is in 

 line with the new policy advocated by the Bureau whereby the fish- 

 eries of the Great Lakes are considered for each lake seperately and 

 only by those commonwealths that have a direct and controlling 

 interest in them. The Bureau beheves that this new policy will lead 

 to greater and better results in the establishment of uniform laws on 

 each lake. 



Some progress has been made in 1932 in the compilation of the 

 statistics of the catch of the Great Lakes in such form as to show the 

 catch per unit of gear per unit of time. These statistics permit a 

 study of the correlation of the catch and fishing intensity and thus 

 enable a determination of the real trend in abundance of the various 

 species of fish in the different lakes. The statistics collected by the 

 State of Michigan have been made the starting point in this work. 

 Those collected in 1927 and 1928 already have been worked up by 

 districts for the four lakes controlled by Michigan. The statistics 

 collected in later years will be compiled as rapidly as funds and time 

 permit. 



Through the courtesy of the Michigan Department of Conservation 

 motion pictures were made showing the various phases of research 

 work conducted by the Bureau on the Great Lakes. These pictures 

 show in great detail the various field operations carried on by the 

 Fulmar in the Lake Michigan investigation as well as the work con- 

 ducted in the laboratory at Ann Arbor. This film will be one of a 

 series of educational filriis produced by the State of Michigan. 



