REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 37 
tions are of value in determining the conditions of temperature, 
densities, ocean currents, and other physical factors that affect the 
distribution, migration, and successful propagation of fishes; par- 
ticular attention has also been given to the collection of material 
which would contribute to a knowledge of the life histories and 
habits of important food fishes. 
INVESTIGATION OF LAKES. 
The Bureau has continued to cooperate with the State Geological 
and Natural History Survey of Wisconsin in an investigation of the 
fundamental biological and physical conditions of life in inclosed 
waters. The examination of Lake Champlain, which was com- 
menced in the preceding year, was brought nearly to completion, and 
a report is expected to be ready in the course of the next fiscal year. 
SERVICE IN PROMOTION OF FISHERY LEGISLATION. 
While the Bureau is charged with the duties of propagating fishes 
and of conducting investigations in relation to the fishes and the 
fishery industries, it has a natural obligation and desire to give en- 
couragement and advice in the matter of legislation whenever its aid 
is solicited. Within the year a number of occasions have arisen in 
which the Bureau could cooperate with State authorities in the con- 
sideration of measures of protection or conservation. The Bureau 
has been represented in such conferences with the authorities of the 
States of Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, and has also partici- 
pated in a joint conference of the State officials of Wisconsin, Minne- 
sota, Iowa, and Illinois with respect to mussel legislation. In many 
directions our fishery resources are being wasted through the inade- 
quacy of the efforts for protection or conservation, and every judi- 
cious step toward the desired ends is deserving of the most cordial 
indorsement. 
THE COMMERCIAL FISHERIES. 
With the small field force available, the Bureau has made canvasses 
of certain branches of the fishing industry, and through local agents 
has continued and extended the collection of data for important off- 
shore vessel fisheries of both the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts. 
THE LOBSTER FISHERY. 
A canvass of the lobster fishery of the entire Atlantic coast was 
completed during the year, and a one-sheet bulletin giving the results 
of the canvass was issued and widely distributed. The lobster fisher Vv 
has been attracting much attention because of its critical condition in 
some States, and in the next few years will undoubtedly receive un- 
usual consideration at the hands of persons having concern for the 
welfare of this valuable industry. 
Lobsters are caught along the entire coast, from the most eastern 
point in Maine to ‘the Breakw ater at Lewes, Del. The number of 
persons engaged in the fishery in 1913 was 4,508, and the total invest- 
ment was $2,460,898. The catch amounted to 8,832,017 lobsters, 
weighing 12,067,017 pounds and valued at $2,394,822. The details 
of the fishery 1 in each State are shown in the following table: 
