REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 45 
The Bureau is continually called upon for advice in the solution 
of problems confronting those who are either engaging in fish culture 
as a private venture or who are interested in developing the possi- 
bilities of certain public waters. A station such as that at Fairport, 
where the hatching and rearing of fishes to a size suitable for the 
table can go hand in hand with systematic scientific observation and 
experiment, renders a long needed and invaluable service in pro- 
viding an experience supplemental to that gained in practical fish- 
cultural work. 
During the year the Bureau conducted a survey of the Bonneville 
System of Utah with reference primarily to its fishery resources 
and incidentally to the problems of fish protection in irrigation 
ditches. This system comprises Utah Lake and Provo, Beaver, 
Bear, Logan, and other rivers. Interesting and unexpected dis- 
coveries were made of several new species of whitefish that appear 
to be indigenous to the system, and all of which are good food fish. 
Utah Lake is famous for its suckers and carp, tons of which are some- 
times shipped to eastern markets, some going even to New York. 
Generally speaking, however, the fish of the Bonneville System are 
not plentiful enough to be of great commercial value except locally. 
With the development of power plants and the growth of agriculture, 
they are certain to become less numerous, unless due care is taken 
to conserve the fish supply as far as may be done consistently with 
the pursuit of other objects of greater economic importance. 
SERVICE OF THE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORIES. 
The seaside laboratories, which opened for the summer season just 
before the close of the last fiscal year, were in active operation until 
about the middle of September, 1915. Various investigations were 
pursued chiefly prong the employment of the temporary services of 
specialists in several lines. 
The Woods Hole, Mass., laboratory is intended to serve as a 
nucleus for investigations of more direct reference to the New Eng- 
land and Middle Atlantic fisheries as well as for more technical 
investigations of general application. In some respects this estab- 
lishment is better adapted for technical studies than any other lab- 
oratory of the Bureau, and it is hoped to improve the facilities for 
biophysical and biochemical studies that form essential phases of 
certain fishery investigations. The lack of a permanent scientific 
staff for this station causes its scientific operations to be confined 
largely to the summer season, when temporary professional services 
are most readily available. The Peep a topics of investigation 
during the past season may be cited. There have been studies of 
oysters, elsewhere referred to, which related chiefly to nutrition, 
greening, and propagation. The studies of nutrition had especial 
reference to the discovery of methods of fattening that might not 
be open to the objections properly raised against some of the com- 
mon practices. The investigation of greening, directed at a condi- 
tion which has served as a serious blight on oyster culture in certain 
localities, and of ‘‘green gill,” an entirely distinct phenomenon, was 
also associated with this laboratory. Studies of the larval develop- 
ment of fishes have been followed with results narrated elsewhere. 
6111°—17—44 
