PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 1937 5 



during the year in selected waters. Continuation of these studies 

 gives promise of yielding results of great practical importance by 

 indicating whether the efforts of fish culturists may more profitably 

 be spent on artificial propagation or on the improvement of natural 

 conditions in bass waters. 



At the Quilcene, Wash., hatchery, both preventive and thera])eutic 

 measures for combating common hatchery diseases were investigated 

 under controlled conditions. The superiority of this experimental 

 approach to the problem of hatchery disease has already been clearly 

 demonstrated during the com])arativel_v short time the laboratory has 

 been in operation. 



Every State and every major river system have now been included 

 in the stream })ollution studies conducted from headquarters at 

 Columbia, Mo. Data so gathere:! have been applied to the solution 

 of numerous fislieries problems, pnd applications of these findings 

 are being made by manufacturers for the correction of pollution haz- 

 ards with increasing and encouraging frequency. Physiological ex- 

 periments to determine the cumulative effect of substances naturally 

 present in many waters in minute quantities have yielded results of 

 great significance. In cooperation with the National Research Coun- 

 cil, investigations of the fisheries j^roblems in several of the larger 

 impoundments of water in the western part of the country have been 

 initiated. Results of these studies, as yet incomplete, are already 

 finding practical application in connection with stocking programs. 



COOPERATION 



As in previous years, the Bureau again gratefully acknowledges 

 extensive cooperation in the conduct of biological investigations of 

 the fisheries which, during the i^ast year, has extended and rounded 

 out materially the program of work. This cooperation includes ac- 

 tive participation in research j^rojects by the personnel of the Bureau 

 of Plsheries and other agencies, the furnii^hino; of laboratory and 

 office quarters, equipment, boats, personnel, and other facilities and 

 services, and, in some cases, the donation of funds to joint projects. 

 Such cooperation has boon aff;>ried by universities, research insti- 

 tutions, agencies of the State governments, such as fish and game 

 commissions and surveys, and various Federal agencies concerned 

 with the management of natural resources with collateral interests 

 in fisheries. 



Several of the sections of the Division of Scientific Inquiry are 

 afforded headquarters for their regional activities by the universities 

 where laboratory and library facilities are unexcelled. Cooperation 

 from the States has consisted generally in the furnishing of office 

 and laboratory headquarters, the provision of boats and assisting 

 personnel, and in some cases the active participation in investigative 

 programs with a joint staff of Federal and State employees. In 

 one instance a brief investigation was undertaken entirely on funds 

 provided by a commercial fishery organization. 



Cooperation with Federal agencies has shown continued improve- 

 ment during the past year. A cooperative program with the Forest 

 Service is continuing upon a mutually satisfactory basis and similar 

 cooperation has been effected with the Tennessee Valley Authority. 



