KEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES XXV 



of Fisheries as in previous years. A noteworthy improvement in 

 the dissemination of this information has been the issuing of a pre- 

 liminaiw mimeographed statement, which makes these statistics 

 available to the trade within 15 days of their collection. The trade's 

 appreciation of this service has been particularly evident and grati- 

 fying. Statistics of canned fishery products and by-products for 

 the year 1925 were collected and published early in 1926, and those 

 on the production, holdings, and consumption of animal and vege- 

 table oils in the fishery industries were collected quarterly and fur- 

 nished to the Bureau of the Census for publication as in previous 

 years. The annual canvasses of the shad fisheries of the Potomac 

 and Hudson Rivers were made as usual. 



The New England States were canvassed for statistics on the 

 personnel, investment, and yield in the fisheries and fishery indus- 

 tries for the year 1924, and with their publication statistics of this 

 nature are available on the various geographical sections, as follows : 

 New England States, 1924; New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, 

 1921; Maryland and Virginia, 1920; South Atlantic and Gulf 

 States, 1923; Pacific Coast States, persons and investment for 1922 

 and products for 1923; Great Lakes and Mississippi River and 

 tributaries, 1922. 



These are the only complete statistics available, and it is becom- 

 ing more and more apparent that intermittent statistics are not 

 capable of yielding the information needed in dealing with prob- 

 lems of conservation. Annual statistics are vital to the determina- 

 tion of the abundance of fishes and would provide the best insurance 

 against depletion and at the same time against ill-advised legisla- 

 tion hastily provided to meet apparent but not real depletion. 



The bureau is seeking to obtain such statistics by encouraging their 

 collection by the States, and there seems to be some promise of 

 progress in this respect. The Pacific Coast States have systems 

 for the collection of statistics of such character that it has been pos- 

 sible, by supplementing them with some field work, to compile fairly 

 complete statistics for the years 1923 to 1925. Connecticut has 

 begun to collect complete annual statistics, and some of the States 

 on the Great Lakes are collecting partial statistics. 



TECHNOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS 



Conservation, a primary function of the Bureau of Fisheries, ap- 

 plies to fishery products as well as to fishery life. If there is waste 

 in preserving and marketing the fish or in making use of by-prod- 

 ucts, true conservation is not effected. The bureau is doing what it 

 can, through technological research, to bring about more efficient 

 utilization of fishery products by improving existing and developing 

 new and better equipment, methods, products, and practices within 

 the various branches of the fishing industry and by showing how 

 properly to utilize wastes and by-products. Few realize the impor- 

 tance of well directed, adequately supported technological research* 

 Rapid progress in industry, and this applies particularly to the 

 fisheries industries, largely depends on such work combined with 

 the application of sound business principles. Work was continued 

 throughout the year on three major lines of research — preservation 



