REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 23 



in Yellowstone Lake. Some data were secured on this point, but 

 the general problem of the destructiveness of the birds with respect 

 to the trout, after conferences on the ground, was considered to be of 

 such immediate importance that the question of parasites was tempo- 

 rarily relegated to the background and has not been the subject of 

 special attention. 



OPERxVTION OF BIOLOGICAL LABORATORIES. 



The biological laboratory at Fairport, Iowa, has been operated as 

 usual, conducting investigations and experiments in the interests of 

 the economic aquatic resources of the Mississippi Valley and prac- 

 tical lish culture and mussel culture as an aid to their conservation. 

 The more important activities have been mentioned briefly in their 

 appropriate places in preceding pages of this report. 



The laboratory at Woods Hole was operated during the summet- 

 with a small staff of the bureau's employees, and its facilities were 

 extended, at no additional expense, to a number of independent 

 investigators making studies of various problems of marine biology. 

 During the remainder of the year it was used as a base for the staff' 

 of the Albatross, who were engaged in investigations of the basic 

 food organisms of the region and in the oceanographic and biologic 

 studies mentioned in connection with the investigation of the causes 

 of the disastrous conditions obtaining in the oyster industry in Long 

 island Sound and contiguous waters. 



There is still an almost complete lack of personnel at the Beaufort 

 (N. C.) laboratory, due to the impossibility of filling the vacant posi- 

 tions with competent men at the salaries available. The work on 

 diamond-back terrapin culture made some progress, and the facilities 

 of the laboratory were profitably employed during a large part of 

 the year by investigators of the Navy Department employed in the 

 study of fouling of ships' bottoms. During the summer of 1922 sev- 

 eral independent investigators made use of the laboratory. Repairs 

 have been made to buildings, sea wall, and grounds, and the station 

 is in satisfactory physical condition. 



The situation at Key West (Fla.) laboratory is also unsatisfactory 

 in respect to personnel for the same reasons as at Beaufort. Some 

 improvement in the buildings and grounds were made during the 

 year, but the incomplete condition of the station and the lack of per- 

 sonnel render it nearly unj)roductive at present. 



POLLUTION OF WATERS. 



The bureau's I'ecommendation of a small appropriation for the 

 systematic study of water pollutions in their relation to the fisheries 

 failed to receive the favorable consideration of Congress, and this 

 important subject has received practically no attention during the 

 year excepting as a part of the investigation into the conditions caus- 

 ing the failure of the oyster set in Long Island Sound. I feel that 

 I can not do better than reiterate the statement carried by my report 

 of last year : 



Pollution of interioi* streams and waterways by industrial wastes and munic- 

 ipal sewage has been the subject of complaint and protest for many years. 

 Industry itself frequently has been a victim of its own acts thi-ough inability 

 to use the polluted water with safety in boilers or for the many other indus- 

 trial purposes that require pure water. The public health has been menaced, 

 public works liave been damaged, agriculture has suffered, and in some parts 

 of the country the streams liave been swept bare of living things, including 



65067—23 i 



