REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 27 



mention the cooperative services rendered in the campaign for in- 

 creased consumption of fish from the Gulf of Mexico involving efforts 

 to facilitate capture, transportation, and sale of the fish; the giving 

 of demonstrations and personal instruction in the proper cure oi 

 Alaska herring: the partial equipment of an experimental fishery- 

 products laboratory in southern California; and the conduct of ex- 

 periments in the preservation of fish by methods of canning, salting, 

 and smoking. 



While legislation for the protection of fish and shellfish is a function 

 of the several States, it is one of the primary objects of the scientific 

 activities of the Bureau of Fisheries to acquire and distribute such in- 

 formation as will be useful in the framing and enforcement of wise 

 protective laws. Allusion has already been made to assistance 

 afforded the authorities of several States with regard to the protec- 

 tion of the salmon, the blue crab, and the spiny lobster. Coopera- 

 tion of like nature has been extended in relation to various other 

 fishery resources, notably the fresh-water mussels. 



It has been evident for a number of years that the future of the 

 fresh-water mussel industries was largely dependent upon the adop- 

 tion of proper measures of conservation. An important step in the 

 direction of conservation was taken when, following a series of 

 investigations by the Bureau of Fisheries, Congress authorized the 

 conduct of the artificial propagation of mussels in connection with 

 the establishment of the fisheries biological station at Fairport. The 

 success of artificial propagation, however, is dependent upon the 

 adoption and enforcement of appropriate protective measures, and 

 for this phase of conservation the States alone are responsible. It 

 is not only important that the several States concerned should en- 

 force measures of protection, but, since the mussel resources are 

 frequently found in interstate streams, it is an essential condition 

 of the best results that there sliould be identical or concurrent leg- 

 islation among the several States exercising jurisdiction over the 

 different portions of a stream. 



Much mterest in the matter of concurrent legislation has ])een 

 manifested not only by the manufacturers of pearl buttons and the 

 mussel fishermen, but by responsible oflicials of several States as 

 well. The Bureau of Fisheries has also endeavored to cooperate 

 with all interested persons in the devising of protective measures 

 which would be effective in the accomplishment of the desired re- 

 sults without creating greater disturbance of economic conditions 

 than is inevitable. Having been informed that serious efforts Avere 

 being made in several States of the Mississippi Basin to have pro- 

 tective legislation enacted by the legislatures then in session, the 

 Bureau prepared a statement treating of the necessity for measures 

 of conservation, and this statement was comprised in a paper 

 entitled "Fresh- Water Mussels: A Valuable National Resource 

 Without SufFicient Protection," issued in February and widely dis- 

 tributed in the States concerned. 



It seems not inappropriate to direct attention to the fact that the 

 scientific activities of the Bureau have suffered in consequence of the 

 wide disparity between the salaries paid in the Bureau and those paid 

 for work of simihir character in other branches of the Government 

 service, and more especially in outside institutions of learning or 



