12 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



invited to participate, and designated the superintendents of its stations 

 in Michigan and Illinois to represent it. Among the resolutions 

 adopted by the conference was one recommending to the state legis- 

 latures the enactment of a law authorizing the Bureau of Fisheries to 

 collect fish spawn during the closed seasons; another providing forthe 

 licensing by the states of both commercial and rod fishermen; another 

 recommending to the state legislatures the enactment of uniform pro- 

 tective fishery legislation, as formulated by a special joint committee 

 of the conference; and the following, in which this Bureau is particu- 

 larly interested: 



That this convention recommend to the legislatures of the several states repre- 

 sented that they memorialize Congress to take jurisdiction of international and inter- 

 state waters for the purpose of propagating and protecting fish in said waters, and 

 that said states express their willingness to cede to the federal government all juris- 

 diction that rests in said states. 



At the invitation of the governor of Michigan the Commissioner 

 visited that state in April, 1905, for a conference relative to the 

 Bureau's work in the Michigan waters of the Great Lakes. The 

 superintendent of the Michigan stations accompanied the Commis- 

 sioner, and the state was represented by the governor, the president 

 of the state board of fish commissioners, and the state fish and game 

 warden. The subject of the conference was the interference of the 

 fish and game warden with the Bureau's fish-cultural operations, as 

 noted in the last annual report. The outcome of the meeting was 

 very satisfactoiy, and steps were taken to insure a continuance of the 

 government's work without molestation. A bill that was drafted 

 at the conference was shortly thereafter introduced in the Michigan 

 legislature and became a law in May. The full text of the act is as 

 follows: 



AN ACT to provide for the gathering of spawn in the Great Lakes bordering upon this State by the 

 United States Bureau of Fisheries, and to provide a penalty for the unauthorized use or imitation 

 of ensigns and markers used by the United States Bureau of Fisheries in taking such spawn; and to 

 repeal section six of act number eighty-eight of the public acts of eighteen hundred nmety-nine. 



The people of the State of Michigan enact: 



Section 1. It shall be lawful for the United States Bureau of Fisheries, through its 

 duly authorized agents, representatives, or employes, to catch fish in any manner 

 and in any of the waters of this State during any and all seasons of the year for the 

 purpose of fish culture and scientific investigations; to have and to hold ripe and 

 unripe fish in order to take spawn therefrom, and to sell all such ripe and unripe fish 

 as are of legal size and devote the proceeds of such sales exclusively towards tin- 

 defraying of the expenses incurred in catching such fish and the work of collecting 

 and hatching such spawn by the United States Bureau of Fisheries in the State of 

 Michigan: Provided, That the State Game and Fish Warden or other proper officer 

 shall be duly notified of the time and place of such fishing: And provided further, 

 That at least seventy-five per cent of the fry resulting from the spawn so taken shall 

 be planted iu the waters of this State: And provided further, That the State Board of 

 Fish Commissioners shall receive an annual report of the operations under this act. 



Sec. 2. All boats, buoys, nets, and appliances for catching fish, as herein provided, 



