American Fisheries Society. 13 



Cortelyou is also favorably disposed and it is assured tliat the 

 good work independently carried on under the Fish Commission 

 in the past will be continued and extended under its new status 

 as the Bureau of Fisheries of the Department of Commerce an<l 

 Labor. 



During- the past year the Fish Commission, in addition lo its 

 usual extensive fish-cultural operations, is credited with import- 

 ant investigations in Hawaii, Alaska, and in the several parts oi 

 the United States. Experiments are now under way, or about 

 to be undertaken, which it is believed ^vill lead to the develop- 

 ment of practical methods of culture of sponges, terrapin, green 

 turtle, and frog, and im])rovement in the methods of oyster cul- 

 ture. At the present time there is in course of erection a station 

 to be devoted to the lobster and lobster culture, according to a 

 system developed jointly by the Fish Commission of the United 

 States and the Ehode Island State Fish Commission. 



In the past thirty-two years much has been done but much vc- 

 mains. The possibility for originating investigations in fish cul- 

 ture and its cognates are not yet exhausted. An accurate knowl- 

 edge of causes and diagnoses of the treatment of diseases which 

 attack fish in confinement is urgently needed, and, as you have 

 been made aware by the paper presented last year and the one an- 

 nounced for the present meeting, this problem is now being sys- 

 tematically attacked. Another need is the study of nutrition of 

 young fishes and the development of a more rational method of 

 feeding. Intensive production of the natural food of certain 

 species is in places almost a necessity and the discovery and de- 

 velopment of a cheap and practical system is highly desirable 

 A score of other desiderata might be mentioned and they will 

 suggest themselves to those of you who are practically engaged 

 in fish culture or research. It is a stimulus to such research and 

 investigations that this Society and these meetings are chiefly 

 valuable. 



We have an interesting and instructive program, from the 

 consideration of which I shall no longer detain you. I trust that 

 this meeting will be pleasant and profitable and that we shall 

 go from it fortified to carry to greater perfection the various 

 works upon which we are severally engaged. 



(The address was received with great applause.) 



