REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 17 



BIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS. 

 GENEIL\L CONDITION OF THE WOKK. 



In the field occupied by the liureau's division of inquiry respect- 

 in*:: food fishes and the fishing f^rounds, the- fiscal year 1920 was 

 marked by a reduction in activities as a necessary atljustment to the 

 decreased approi)riation for such purposes. The j^eneral ])olicy 

 adopted was to continue in progress the more important investiga- 

 tions, reducing the number of projects rather than the (juality of 

 the work. 



During the preceding year several of the chief agencies of the 

 Bureau's scientific activities were in the hands of the Navy Depart- 

 ment, so that provision w'as required neither for the maintenance of 

 certain stations or vessels nor for their normal activities. Just be- 

 fore the beginning of the fiscal year under report, or in the early 

 part of that year, the Navy Department returned to the Bureau the 

 Beaufort (N. C.) laboratory and the steamers Albatross and Fish- 

 Hawk, and withdrew from the Woods Hole (Mass.) laboratory. It 

 has been endeavored to put these agencies into effective operation 

 again as far as practicable, but, owing to the necessity for extensive 

 repairs to the Beaufort laboratory and its equipment, that station 

 maintained during the fiscal year 1920 a minimum degree of activity. 



This branch of the service has labored under the severe handicap 

 of inability to maintain a full working staff. For several years the 

 scientific personnel has been kept fairly complete, partly as a result 

 of the reducing of entrance requirements to the lowest possible limit, 

 and partly in consequence of the appeal of patriotic service during 

 a national emergency. In the past J^ear, however, scientific employees 

 have gradually but steadily drifted out of the service, and qualified 

 candidates for their places have failed to appear. Accordingly, the 

 3'ear closed wdth 32 per cent of the scientific positions vacant, among 

 them some of high responsibility, and at the present date the num- 

 ber of vacancies has increased to 36 per cent, with other resigTiations 

 in prospect. Unless radical changes can be promptly made in the 

 salary scale and conditions of service, the efficient accomplishment of 

 one of the Bureau's primary functions must depend upon the possi- 

 bility of enlisting the services of men of independent means, inspired 

 by patriotic purpose or zeal for the work, a condition which is both 

 repugnant and unpromising. 



STUDIES OF SALMONS AND TROUTS. 



Notwithstanding the great amount of attention that has been given, 

 over a long series of years, to the biology of the Pacific salmons, much 

 remains to be learned regarding essential features of their life, 

 growth, habits, etc., and the Bureau has continued to have highly 

 qualified assistants devote themselves to these most important fishes. 

 The efficiency of fish-culture operations imd the intelligent applica- 

 tion of protective measures require a secure foundation of knowledge 

 of the several species at maturity, the life histories, migrations, and 

 conditions favorable for existence. The studies necessary to estab- 

 lish this base of knowledge are highly technical, tedious, and time- 

 consuming; nevertheless, material i)rogress has been made in the 

 interpretation of the age, early history, and possible races of the 



