578 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



ing. There is also the possibility that this discoloration prevents 

 the upward nii<2:rati()n of bass from the Little Tennessee River, into 

 which the Tuckasee<2:ee River dischar<;es, and so is responsible for 

 the reported loss, coincident with the discoloration of the stream, of 

 the bass Hshin<jj from above Bryson to the mouth of the Tuckaseegree 

 River. 



At Old Fort, N, C, on the Catawba River, in close association are 

 a tannery and a plant for the manufacture of tannery extract. 

 Doctor Gutsell made a brief investi<2:ation of the effects of pollution 

 from this source. 



The Catawba River proved to be so polluted for over 2 miles that 

 heavy slud<>;e deposits occurred in the stream and along the margins. 

 The bottom fauna was remarkably altered. For about a mile below 

 the combined outfall no fish were found and at about 2 miles the 

 stream was poor in species and individual fish. At about 4 miles 

 conditions had much improved. The bottom fauna was more nearly 

 normal and fish life more abundant and varied. At a point about 

 8 miles l)elow the factory outfall the bottom fauna proved to be 

 much like that above the point of })olluti()n, indicating that recovery, 

 at least in rapid ])ortions of the stream, was substantially complete. 



Reports on the Tuckaseegee River and the Catawba River inves- 

 tigations were submitted early in December to the North Carolina 

 Department of Conservation and Development. 



During the investigation of stream pollution a considerable col- 

 lection of fishes was made and turned over to Dr. Samuel F. Hilde- 

 brand for identification. Quite a number of forms proved very 

 puzzling and the study of the collections showed clearly that the 

 fishes from the western part of North Carolina are still quite imper- 

 fectly known and inadequately described. 



SHRIMP 



The shi'imp fishery which is prosecuted on a connnercial scale 

 from Beaufort, N. C"., to Corpus Christi, Tex., iiroduced 113,()0(),()00 

 pounds of fishery products in 1929 and ranks fifth in value and 

 sixth in volume among all the fisheries of the country. This yield 

 is two and one-half times the quantity produced in 1918, and this 

 rai)idity of expansion lias caused great anxiety for the future of 

 the industry. Lacking adequate funds and personnel, the bureau 

 formerly was unable to satisfy the many requests for infornuition 

 or advice on (piestions of regulation of the fishery. Although of 

 connnercial importance for half a century, no ade(iuate study of the 

 shrimp had ever been made. The ])assage of the o-year j^rogram 

 bill, however, made it ])ossible for the bureau to accede to these 

 requests for an investigation, and plans were laid early in the fiscal 

 year 1931 to start an adequate program of study which would require 

 several years for its completion, and to attack all phases of the 

 shrimp problem at a number of points representing the entire range 

 of the fishery. 



Dr. Frank W. Weymouth, professor of physiology at Stanford 

 University, who has wide experience in fishery research, was selected 

 to supervise this investigation, and, although he will not begin active 

 duty until early in 1931, a staff of assistants was organized to begin 



