122 PROBLEMS IN WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



There was an extension of the work of this Bureau in all 

 fields during the first decade of the century. Another lab- 

 oratory was erected in 1901 on* an island near Beaufort, 

 N. C., chiefly for scientific work on the aquatic life of the 

 south Atlantic coast. In 1907 a biological survey of the 

 water surrounding the Philippine Archipelago was under- 

 taken and carried out with important resulting discoveries. 



Fish cultural work continued to expand during the same 

 period, new hatcheries being built and the staff slowly but 

 steadily increasing. The statisticians of the bureau began 

 a study of the kind and quantity of fish in and about the 

 territorial possessions of the United States while continuing 

 their usual work of gathering information along the Great 

 Lakes and on the seacoasts. 23 



The bureau first began its work in Alaska in 1889 when 

 by act of Congress an investigation of the salmon, their 

 abundance and distribution was undertaken with the view 

 of recommending to Congress such legislation as might be 

 deemed necessary. 24 The actual control of the salmon fish- 

 eries, however, remained under the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury until 1903 when it was transferred to the Secretary of 

 Commerce and Labor and by him placed under the Bureau 

 of Fisheries. 



The protection of the Alaskan salmon fisheries proved to 

 be a very difficult problem. As the canning industry de- 

 veloped every device that could be used for wholesale cap- 

 ture of fish was put into operation, and gradually all the 

 favorite streams of the salmon became so blocked with 

 seines, gill nets, traps, and barricades that but a small pro- 

 portion of the fish could find passage to the spawning 

 grounds and the future supply was seriously endangered. In 

 the face of this serious situation the bureau was given broad^ 



23 Smith, Hugh, The Bureau of Fisheries, op. cit., p. 1391. 

 2*25 Stat. L. 1009. 



