Fiftieth Annual Meeting 27 



President Avery : Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : 

 There seems to be an impression abroad that the American 

 Fisheries Society is a national institution. It is an interna- 

 tional institution; it knows no boundary line between the 

 United States and Canada. The American Fisheries Society 

 has been in existence for fifty years, and on account of its 

 membership having been largely confined to the United States, 

 as well as on the ground of convenience, its meetings have 

 been invariably held within the borders of the United States. 

 But in its membership are included also a number of dis- 

 tinguished citizens of Canada, men who have been engaged in 

 conservation work, scientists of this great country ; and much 

 of the work of the Society has been done by Canadian mem- 

 bers. Therefore we are not a foreign institution among you; 

 we are meeting here as an international congress. It is fitting, 

 it seems to me, that this Society should be of such a nature; 

 by reason of the very condition of things its work belongs 

 to the whole of North America. The problems with which 

 the Society has to deal are very much the same in the United 

 States as they are in Canada. The maritime fisheries of the 

 Atlantic coast and of the Pacific coast are international; the 

 fisheries of the Great Lakes and of the other international 

 waters are of common interest to both countries; problems 

 of fish culture and fish conservation which arise are common 

 to both. Therefore, it is exceedingly fitting that this Society 

 should be of an international character. It is very gratifying, 

 I know, to the members of this Society who come from the 

 United States, that we at last have the opportunity of holding 

 one of our meetings in your great country. It is something 

 that many of us have looked forward to with pleasant antici- 

 pation for many years, and now that we are experiencing the 

 realization, we find that it is even more pleasant than was 

 the anticipation. 



The American Fisheries Society is not an organization for 

 profit or gain of its members. It is an organization, strictly 

 speaking, of a scientific nature. Its members are engaged in 



