72 American Fisheries Society 



Our agricultural brethren, with their numerous experiment 

 stations, colleges of agriculture, extension service, county 

 agents, publicity work, etc., ramifying into every phase of rural 

 life and work, are much ahead of us. It is true we have 

 made some progress along the same lines, but how pitifully 

 inadequate! Some experimental work has been carried on 

 since the establishment of the United States Fish Commission, 

 fifty years ago, but research has been comparatively limited 

 for the reason that the Division of Scientific Inquiry has not 

 had the appropriations necessary for its work. A few bio- 

 logical stations for fisheries work and one fisheries products 

 laboratory have been established, but you can count them all 

 off on the jfingers of one hand. Without exception they are 

 far behind the average agricultural experiment station in per- 

 sonnel, this being due to insufficient financial support. The 

 deficiency has partly been made up by the cooperation of 

 investigators, mostly college professors, for a couple of months 

 during the summer, the Government bearing little more than 

 the actual expense of the investigation, while the investigators 

 work on problems that interest them and which bear on fish- 

 ery matters. It has been productive of good results as far as 

 it went, but it is altogether insufficient. 



In the matter of education we are in still worse condition. 

 Our first school of fisheries in America was established only 

 a year ago, and a few universities are offering some courses 

 which will give partial training to men entering fisheries work ; 

 but hitherto practically all of our research men have been re- 

 cruited temporarily from among the biologists who were inter- 

 ested in aquatic life, and who have found an outlet for their 

 extra energy along this line, while making a living by teaching. 

 Our fish culturists, conservationists, and commercial fisheries 

 men have been compelled to do without special training for 

 their important work. 



Extension work, properly speaking, does not exist, as far 

 as I am aware, though information is spread to a slight extent 



