PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL, INQUIRIES 15 



The importance of securing the interest and cooperation of all na- 

 tions participating in the fisheries on the American side of the North 

 Atlantic was discussed. The committee decided to extend an invita- 

 tion to membership and representation on the committee to Portugal, 

 and the Canadian Government was asked to communicate with Por- 

 tugal that effect. Participation by Portugal would round out the 

 representation on this committee, which already includes Newfound- 

 land, France, Canada, and the United States. All of these countries 

 participate in the fisheries of the American North Atlantic, which 

 yield in excess of 1,000,000,000 pounds annually. 



The special committee appointed at the previous meeting to con- 

 sider recommendations for the improvement of statistics of the fish- 

 eries reported its recommendation that statistics be collected so as to 

 make available information on the fishing effort, as shown b}^ the 

 number of men and the number of fishing days involved in the pro- 

 duction of the total catch. These recommendations were approved 

 by the committee. 



Action was also taken to secure the cooperation of each country in 

 transmitting annual reports of its statistics to the other members of 

 the committee. 



It was also recommended by the committee that there should be 

 regular collection of data and material of the commercial fisheries in 

 the form of measurements and scale collections from sample catches. 



The progress during the past season in cod, haddock, and mackerel 

 investigations and the drift-bottle experiments were reported to the 

 committee. 2 / 



INTERIOR WATERS 



COREGONIN.E OF THE GREAT LAKES 



Dr. Walter Koelz has completed the first draft of a report on the 

 systematic relationships and natural history of the coregonines of the 

 Great Lakes and Lake Nipigon, and it is hoped that the manuscript 

 will be ready for publication soon. Experiments also have been be- 

 gun to test the constancy of racial characteristics in the lake herring. 

 The superior quality of the Lake Erie herring has long been recog- 

 nized by the trade, and a great deal of interest has been manifested 

 in its introduction into other lakes. Fry have been liberated in Sagi- 

 naw Bay in Lake Huron, and at Port Washington, Wis., in Lake 

 Michigan. If the fish retain the characteristics they exhibit in Lake 

 Erie, the experiment will have important consequences. Additions 

 have been made to the collections of coregonines from the inland waters 

 of eastern North America, principally through the courtesy of the 

 Department of Biology of the University of Toronto, the museum of 

 the University of Michigan, and the State museum of New York. 



During the past year John Van Oostan spent much time in 

 revising and greatly elaborating a paper on the life history of the 

 lake herring (Leucichthys artedi) of Lake Huron. The new data were 

 derived from a study of some 2,000 additional specimens and scales 

 collected in 1924 and referred to in the last annual report. Altogether, 

 some 4,000 herring and their scales, representing samples taken 



'The details' of the work of the United States Bureau of Fisheries on these subjects mav be found on 

 pages 3 to 7 of this report. 



96725—26 3 



