40 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



FISHERY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE. 



For many years the Bureau has maintained at Boston and 

 Gloucester, Mass., a service making current statistical reports on the 

 fisheries of those ports. This service has the strong support of the 

 commercial interests, and a proposition for its abandonment would 

 result in instant and vigorous protest. The large fishery interests 

 of the Pacific coast are becoming insistent in their requests that a 

 similar service be inaugurated in that region, and the Bureau regards 

 the work of such importance as to impel it to recommend provision 

 for a suitable personnel for the purpose. In view of the regard in 

 which the reports at Boston and Gloucester are held by the fishery 

 interests, it would appear desirable to gradually extend the service 

 to other places on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts having extensive vessel 

 fisheries. 



NEW BUILDING. 



As has been repeatedly indicated in these reports, the quarters of 

 the Bureau are antiquated, crowded, unsafe, and inadequate in every 

 respect. They impede the transaction of the public business and 

 interfere with efficiency and development. It is again earnestly 

 recommended that provision be made for a building which will fur- 

 nish offices, laboratories, workrooms, and an aquarium national in 

 scope and in keeping with necessitous requirements. 

 Kespectfully, 



Geo. M. Bowers, 



Commissioner. 

 To Hon. Charles Nagel, 



Secretary of Commerce and Labor. 



