PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES. 



REPORT OF THE DIVISION OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1920. 



By R. E. CoKEB, 

 Assifitcnvt in Charge. 



INTRODUCTION. 



There are times when it is worth while to inquire somewhat search - 

 ingly into the vahie of the varied activities of the Federal Govern- 

 ment, to ask what good purposes are to be served through a particular 

 governmental function. Clearly, such a time is upon us now, and it 

 is appropriate, therefore, to prefix this report of progress with a 

 brief statement suggestive of the purposes which the Bureau of Fish- 

 eries attempts to serve through the Division of Scientific Inquiry. 



Tlie direct and practical relation of scientific studies to the fishery 

 industries is not always clearly understood. A successful industrial 

 establishment depends no less upon the maintenance of the source of 

 supply than upon the marketing of its product. The Division of 

 Scientific Inquiry stands with reference to the fishery industries 

 somewhat in the same relation as the supply department to a manu- 

 facturing concern: It does not produce the raw materials," but it 

 concerns itself with the problems of ultimate sources, of judicious 

 exploitation, and of the means and conditions of maintenance or 

 possible increase of supplies. 



To be more concrete, an oyster industry is impossible without 

 oysters, but it is now painfully evident to all concerned that, in 

 northern waters at least, the continuance of a supply of oysters de- 

 ])ends upon the solution of problems of scientific inquiry, the prob- 

 lem, for example, of the conditions of securini^ a set. The salmon 

 industry ranks among the very first in the fisheries of the United 

 States, yet in most waters we have witnessed a gradual decline in the 

 abundance of salmon, and where such a decline is not manifest, as in 

 the Columbia River, it is universally attributed to the measures of 

 artificial })ropagation. The Bureau is therefore urged to investigate 

 the conditions of success in maintaining the desired runs by artifi- 

 cial propagation, and to furnish that knowledge of the life history 

 and migrations of salmon without which they can not be successfully 

 protected and conserved. These are problems of scientific inquir}''. 

 The stock of whitefishes in the Great Lakes has been gradually de- 

 pleted, but protective measures can not be most intelligently de- 

 vised and enforced without knowledge of the life history, habits, 



" That in this cnse is a function of nature as assistod by fish-cultural opprations. 



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