TC U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



cost of some inconvenience and delay in removing catches from 

 the nets. 



If this line of attack on the conservation problems of the region be 

 :ado])ted by even a few of the several States in which jurisdiction over 

 territorial' waters is vested, the expected benefits will not be wholly 

 imllified by failure of adjacent States to adopt similar measures. In 

 this respect the proposal differs from plans to restrict the catch of 

 the larger and more desirable market sizes, for unless closely coordi- 

 nated action be taken by all of the States concerned restriction in a 

 single State may be expected to stimulate fishing in adjacent States 

 so that little or no reduction in the catch of the larger sizes from the 

 migratory population as a whole may be expected. 



Until October 1937 scientific activities in the Middle and South 

 Atlantic region were administered from the headquarters of the North 

 and Middle Atlantic Fishery Investigations at Cambridge, Mass. In 

 October headquarters were established in the Horticulture Building 

 of the University of Maryland at College Park. Md., under the direc- 

 tion of K. A. Nesbit. The courtesy of the University in providing 

 office and library facilities without cost to the Bureau is gratefully 

 acknowledged. 'W. C. Neville is carrying on the investigations of 

 shore fishes of the Middle Atlantic States, formerly under Mr. Nesbit's 

 supervision, although Mr. Nesbit is continuing analysis of squeteague 

 •data. Field headquarters for study of the shad fisheiy were estab- 

 lished in the Charleston Museum, Charleston, S. C, office and labora- 

 tory facilities being generously provided by the Museum. John C. 

 Pearson is in charge of the Charleston office, assisted by Louella Cable, 

 ^Charles O. Hathaway II, and Oliver A. Duff. 



SHORE FISHES 



T^ield observations of this group of species have been conducted on 

 a greatly reduced scale since 1932, when economies in administration 

 were effected. 



To a large extent this reduction in Bureau activities has been com- 

 pensated for by increased scientific studies by the conservation depart- 

 ments of several States in the region, working in cooperation with the 

 Bureau's staff. Khode Island has established a laboratory in Narra- 

 gansett Bay. The Rhode Island investigators, under the direction of 

 Dr. Charles Fish, Professor of Zoology in the Rhode Island State 

 College, have cooperated in a program of taggin.g winter flounders 

 and have begun valuable studies of the survival of flounder fry planted 

 by the hatcheries. Connecticut has sponsored an investigation of 

 striped bass, preliminary results of Avliich were published during the 

 year. New Jersey has undertaken tagging experimeftts with young 

 striped bass salvaged from condenser screens in Delaware Bay. 

 Maryland has established an effective scientific organization under the 

 supervision of R. V. Truitt, Professor of Zoology in the University of 

 Maryland and director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory. 

 Good progress has been made in studies of shad and striped bass. 

 North Carolina has contributed substantially to the cost of the coop- 

 erative striped bass investigations conducted by Connecticut. 



In New York the biological survey for 1938 will cover the marine 

 district. Mr. Neville has devoted much time in 1937 to conference 

 with the scientists of the New York Conservation Department in order 



