REPORT 
- OF THE 
COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, 
BuREAU oF FISHERIES, 
Washington, October 9,'1916. 
Sir: There is submitted herewith a report giving an outline of the 
operations of the Bureau of Fisheries during the fiscal year ended 
June 30, 1916. tet 
GENERAL REVIEW. 
On February 9, 1916, the Bureau of Fisheries celebrated the forty- 
fifth anniversary of its establishment as a commission with purely 
investigatory functions. Public exercises were held in the auditorium 
of the National Museum, and the occasion was largely devoted to the 
dedication of a bronze. memorial tablet to Spencer Fullerton Baird, 
the founder and first commissioner of the Bureau. The tablet was 
provided by the private subscriptions of persons now in the Bureau 
who were there under Prof. Baird; by persons who were officially 
associated. with Prof. Baird in the fishery work but who are no longer 
connected. with.it; by a few who, while never in the regular fishery 
service, weré closely connected with it in the days when Prof. Baird 
was Assistant Secretary and later Secretary of the Smithsonian 
Institution and Director of the National Museum as well as Commis- 
sioner of Fisheries; and by ‘some persons who, in later years, have 
been officially engaged in’ some | f the ‘varied operations to which 
Prof: Baird gave impetus. ‘The memorial contained a medallion 
portrait and the following inscription: 
SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
~ 1823-1887 
FOUNDER AND ORGANIZER OF THE UNITED S1ATES BUREAU OF 
FISHERIES 
Commissioner of Fisheries 1871-1887 
He devoted his life to the public service and through the applica- 
tion of science to fish culture and the fisheries gave his country world- 
wide distinction er 
His coworkers and followers in this field dedicate this tablet on 
the anniversary of the establishment, of the Federal fishery service 
February 9, 1916 
