PE OGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL, INQUIRIES, 1924 28 



At the two meetings held during the past fiscal year a number of 

 important topics were discussed. The work of the bureau in tagging 

 cod, pollock, haddock, salmon, and other commercial species received 

 attention and favorable comment. The Canadian fisheries authorities 

 plan to undertake similar work, and the hope was expressed that the 

 tagging operations of the bureau would be continued and expanded. 

 The records of current drift bottles released by Canada and the 

 United States on the coast north and east of Sandy Hook were dis- 

 cussed, 'and arrangements were made for putting oiit additional lines 

 of these bottles. 



The important bearing of oceanographic investigations on fishery 

 problems was brought out and discussed at some length. The com- 

 mittee was unanimously of the opinion that these investigations are 

 of fundamental importance and should receive additional attention. 



Steps were taken to secure more uniform statistics of the fisheries. 

 It was decided that each country should issue the statistics on the 

 catch of cod, haddock, etc., at the end of each calendar year instead 

 of for the fiscal year, as formerly. Arrangements were made for an 

 exchange of statistics bearing on the fisheries of the Grand Banks, 

 this exchange to be made as soon as the statistics are compiled, in 

 order that any country so desiring may publish complete statistics 

 as well as the data dealing with the fishing operations of its own 

 citizens. 



The desirability of an investigation of the mackerel fishery was 

 again discussed, and it was urged upon the representatives of the 

 United States that this countrj^ undertake this work as soon as pos- 

 sible. Plans have been made to do this, but no active work had been 

 done by the close of the fiscal year. 



INTERIOR WATERS 



COREGONIN^ OF THE GREAT LAKES 



The whitefishes and related species form the most important fish- 

 ery resources of the Great Lakes. The investigation of these fish 

 has been continued by Dr. Walter Koelz and John Van Oosten, 

 scientific assistants. Doctor Koelz has been concerned primarily with 

 a study of the systematic relationships and natural history, and 

 Mr. Van Oosten with the life histories, including age and rate of 

 growth as determined from a study of the scales. 



All the collections necessary for a determination of the species of 

 coregonines in the Great Lakes have been made, and it is now pos- 

 sible to stat€ that there occur in the Great Lakes Basin 11 species. 

 In Lakes Nipigon and Superior there are 8 coregonines, in Lake 

 Michigan 10, in Huron 9, in Erie 2, and in Ontario 7. Only two 

 species occur in all six lakes. Three are found in five of the lakes, 

 8 in four, 2 in two, and 1 species is found in only one lake. Except 

 for the latter, which is a western species and occurs in the east only 

 in Lake Nipigon, the coregonine fauna of the various lakes of the 

 basin is essentially alike, but each species has become more or less 

 differentiated in each of the lakes in which it occurs, and sometimes 

 there are marked racial differentiations within a species in one lake. 



