58 ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCES 



available then only a few hours per day as the crew has its meals 

 there. Crews also complain when the scientists attempt to work at 

 night as they assert the noise keeps them awake. 



Scientists have been conducting research from these ships with 

 what they call shoestring equipment. Last winter they obtained 

 their first salinometer. Their deep sea thermometers are borrowed 

 from the International Halibut Commission. The ships have one 

 bathythermograph each. The Bureau in this area has only gasoline 

 portable winches which are reportedly very unsatisfactory, being 

 rusty and quickly filling with water. Each ship is allowed 15 Nansen 

 bottles, the number usually used in one cast. If a cast is lost at sea 

 there are no spare Nansen bottles. 



The vessels can accommodate two scientists or one scientist and a 

 technician. Canada has fisheries research vessels mth accommoda- 

 tions for 35 scientists and technicians. 



Despite the handicaps under which they must work scientist in 

 the area claim that some remarkable results have been obtained and 

 significant contributions made to knowledge of certain North Pacific 

 fisheries. 



Salmon fisheries, however, have undergone a drastic decline in 

 recent years. 



In 1951 the U.S. salmon pack was 222,987,000 pounds; in 1952 it 

 was 214,289,000 pounds. This was the last year in which it has 

 exceeded 200 million pounds. By 1957 the pack had dropped to 

 153,917,000 pounds and in 1960 it was 139,777,000 pounds. 



Three 3'ears ago the Pacific regional office of the Biu-eau submitted 

 a request for funds to make bimonthly cruises in Pacific waters off our 

 northwest coast and Vancouver Island for the pm-pose of studying 

 temperatures, circulation and salinity in connection with the yearly 

 salmon cycle. 



Each year since the request has been renewed, and each year it has 

 been rejected. The amount needed is $80,000. One of the reasons 

 for the repeated rejections is the lack of a suitable research ship and 

 instruments and equipment to conduct this study that scientists in 

 the Bureau and the industry consider most important. 



S. 901 would authorize funds for such studies. 



Wliile the Soviet Union, Commimist China, Japan, Canada, Great 

 Britain, France, West Germany, the Union of South Africa and other 

 nations have enlarged their fisheries research fleets with new and 

 advanced vessels, that of the Bureau of Connnercial Fisheries actually 

 has diminished, as previously indicated in this report. 



The Committee on Oceanography, in its report on "Ocean Re- 

 sources," tersely stated: 



The principal Government agency with primary responsi- 

 bility of research and development of living ocean resources — • 

 the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries of the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service — ^is retrogressing rather than progressing in 

 its ability to engage in broader, basic programs involving ship 

 operations. 



The Committee on Oceanography recommended that during the 

 next 10 years the Bureau construct 14 research ships, 12 of 500 tons 

 displacement and 2 of 1,200 to 1,500 tons displacement. It estimated 

 the cost at $27.4 million. 



