REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 25 



frozen herring, valued approximate!}^ at $208,500. Although the 

 herring Avere less abundant than usual, the fishery was very successful 

 financially to American fishermen. The season closed in December 

 without having given rise to any special complications. 



APPROPRIATIONS. 



The appropriations for the Bureau of Fisheries for the fiscal year 

 1906 were as follows: 



Salaries $281, 920 



^Miscellaneous expenses: 



Administration _ 12, 500 



Propagation of food fishes 240, 000 



Inquiry respecting food fishes 25, 000 



Statistical inquiry 7, 500 



Maintenance of vessels 1 50, 000 



Protection of salmon fisheries in Alaska 7, 000 



Purchase of additional land, improvements, and completion of stations at — 



Bozeman, Mont 6, 000 



Spearfish, S. Dak ; 11,000 



Battle Creek, Cal 5, 000 



Construction and repair of roads and buildings at Baker Lake, Wash 5, 000 



Construction and repair of wharves and buildings at Woods Hole, Mass. . . 10, 000 



In accordance with law the expenditures under these appropriations 

 will be the subject of a special report. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 

 PROTECTION TO FISH LIFE. 



It is imperative that those States in which no adequate legal provi- 

 sion exists for the preservation of the supply of valuable migratory 

 fishes should awake to a sense of their responsibility and promptly 

 enact the legislation necessary to insure that a certain proportion of 

 each season's run shall be permitted to reach the spawning grounds and 

 accomplish the spawning act. In the case of the shad, the striped bass, 

 the Pacific salmons, and other anadromous and migratory species in 

 various State and interstate waters, there is imminent danger of a 

 repetition of the lamentable histor}'^ of the sturgeon fishery in the 

 coast rivers and the Great Lakes. 



NEW" HATCHING STATIONS. 



The Bureau, with its present facilities for taking eggs and hatching 

 and distributing food and game fishes, is unable to meet the constantly 

 growing demands made b}' the States and the general public, and neces- 

 sitated by the conditions in the Great Lakes, the interstate streams, 

 and the coastal waters, for the conservation of whose resources the 

 Federal Government has tacitl}' become responsible. The immense 



