82 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
stake, the international rights in the seal herd, and the welfare of 
the native community, justify more liberal expenditures than have 
ever been made for the fur-seal service. 
The Bureau of Fisheries occupies the anomalous position of hay- 
ing its two most important vessels officered and manned by another 
department of the Government. The circumstances are as follows: 
Since the construction of the steamer ish. Hawk in 1879 and the 
steamer Albatross in 1882, these vessels have had naval crews under 
authority conveyed by law (21 Stats., 151). The naval personnel 
of the Fish Hawk at this time consists of 44 officers and men, the 
commanding officer being a chief boatswain. The naval personnel 
of the Albatross numbers 81 officers and men, the commanding officer 
being a lieutenant-commander. ‘Tle annual salaries of the naval 
personnel of these two vessels, including the allowance for sub- 
sistence, are approximately $102,000. 
A careful consideration of the requirements of the Bureau indi- 
cates that a material reduction in the personnel of these vessels may 
be effected if civilian officers and crews are substituted for naval 
officers and crews. In the case of the Albatross it is found that 35 
men as against 81 men will be ample, and in the case of the F%sh 
Hawk that 26 men as against 44 men will suffice. The annual cost 
of the proposed civilian officers and crews would be $56,292.50, ex- 
clusive of any allowance for subsistence, for which there is no au- 
thority of law in this service. 
The Navy Department from the outset has been most liberal in 
providing efficient officers and crews for these two vessels, and this 
Bureau is under the most profound obligations for this invaluable 
cooperation. However, in view of the foregoing statements, and be- 
cause of the intimation that has from time to time come from the 
Navy Department that its officers and men are needed for service on 
naval vessels, it is believed that Congress should be asked to authorize 
civilian crews. To this end an item has been inserted in the estimates 
of appropriations for the next fiscal year. 
The placing of the Albatross and Fish Hawk under civilian man- 
agement will be an opportune time for the reorganization of the per- 
sonnel of the entire vessel service, so as to put the Bureau of Fish- 
eries on a par with the Bureau of Lighthouses and the Coast and 
Geodetic Survey. This is demanded in the interests of efficiency and 
economy. It appears that a reorganization that will afford  suffi- 
cient men for the vessels, and allow them compensation which will 
be an inducement for efficient men to remain in the service, can be 
accomplished at an annual saving of $25,000 to $30,000. With this 
in view, there has been included in the estimates of appropriations 
for 1917 an item for a lump-sum appropriation to cover the com- 
pensation of all vessel employees instead of specific provision for the 
personnel of each vessel, as at present. The Bureau of Fisheries 
appears to be the only bureau in the Department of Commerce whose 
vessel employees are not given an allowance for subsistence. Con- 
gress should therefore be requested to authorize the vessel personnel 
of the Bureau of Fisheries to enjoy the same status accorded in 
other bureaus. 
Comparatively small increases are required in the appropriations 
for propagation of food fishes, inquiry respecting food fishes and 
fishing grounds, and statistical inquiry, in order that existing 
