BUREAU OF FISHERIES VII 



C. Lake, Minister of Marine and Fisheries of Newfoundland, empha- 

 sized the seriousness of the bait situation and need for assurino; to the 

 fishermen adequate supplies of bait material. Dr, Harold Thomp- 

 son, a well-known iuA^estigator of the Scottish Fishery Board, who is 

 cooperating with the Newfoundland Government in working out a 

 program of fishery research, was present. 



INTERNATIONAL COLONIAL EXPOSITION AT PARIS 



In connection with the participation by the Government of the 

 United States in the International Colonial and Overseas Exposition 

 at Paris from May 1 through October, 1931, the bureau prepared an 

 appropriate display regarding the fishery and fur-seal industries of 

 Alaska. The articles assembled included a life-size reproduction of 

 a chinook salmon, models of salmon steaks and fillets, salmon and 

 clam cans and labels, a mounted fur seal, several dressed and dyed 

 fur-seal skins, and two fur-seal coats. Appropriate photographic 

 presentations were also included. 



CONSERVATION OF WHALES 



At one periocl the United States led all nations in the prosecution 

 of the whale fisheries. It still produces from one to one and a half 

 million gallons of whale oil and imports over seven million gallons, 

 making it a large consumer of this product. 



During the past quarter of a century the prosecution of this fishery 

 on all seas has been greatly intensified. The development of floating 

 factory ships with a displacement up to 30,000 tons or more, some 

 of the larger with storage space for three and one-half to six million 

 gallons of oil, has made possible an intensive exploitation of the fish- 

 ery in Antarctic waters. The mother ship is accompanied by a fleet of 

 " killers," smaller swift vessels, to scour the seas and tow the catch to 

 the factory shi]3. On some of these factory ships there is provision 

 for hauling the whales aboard for cutting up, thus greatly simpli- 

 fying reduction operations. 



The world catch of whales increased from about 12,000 in the 

 calendar year 1920 to more than 27,500 in 1929, and the production 

 of whale oil increased from nearly 20,400,000 gallons to 93,400,000 

 gallons in this 10-year period. 



This intensified pursuit of whales in practically all seas of the 

 globe has aroused grave concern lest the supply be exhausted and 

 the investment in the industry, which has yielded over $60,000,000 

 in products in a year, be jeopardized. Because of the cosmopolitan 

 ■character of whales and the number of countries engaged in the 

 fishery, regulation would appear necessary by international agree- 

 ment. In Europe some provision for the study of the subject has 

 been made, and several nations have applied some restrictions on 

 the operation of their nationals. In this country the question is 

 receiving attention by the Special Committee on Wild Life Re- 

 sources of the United States Senate, the American Society of Mam- 

 malogists, and other conservation agencies. 



Among the protective measures which should receive attention are 

 the prevention of the capture of certain of the rarer species, the kill- 

 ing of immature whales of whatever species, and the undue exploita- 



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