BUREAU OF FISHERIES 125 



Administrative Organisation of the Bureau: Like those 

 of the Biological Survey, the functions of the Bureau of 

 Fisheries may be divided into three major classes; investi- 

 gation, promotion, and regulation. The original function 

 of the bureau was entirely concerned with investigation and 

 recommendation. It still constitutes the most important 

 work of the bureau and employs the most highly skilled 

 personnel. 



At the present time, of the five divisions making up the 

 bureau administrative organization, two, that is Scientific 

 Inquiry, and Fish Industries, are engaged chiefly in investi- 

 gation; one in promotion, the Division of Fish Culture; 

 and two in regulation, the Alaskan Division and the Division 

 of Law Enforcement. This classification is somewhat arbi- 

 trary inasmuch as all of the divisions do some investigating 

 and promotional work. 



Division of Scientific Inquiry: Although the activities of 

 the bureau have been greatly enlarged since its establishment 

 in 1871, the Division of Scientific Inquiry still handles many 

 of the functions performed by the original Fish Commis- 

 sion. It carries on investigations, chiefly biological in char- 

 acter, regarding the occurrence and the extent of the decline 

 in the number of food fishes in the coastal and interior 

 waters. It attempts to discover what the cause of such de- 

 clines may be, and recommends means of remedying them, 

 either by regulatory legislation or by the more positive 

 means of augmenting the source. 



The division is divided into ten sections, five of which are 

 geographical and five functional. The geographical section 

 comprises those general investigations carried on in the 

 various sections of the country, while the functional are 

 investigations of an activity not limited to any one location. 

 The geographical sections are the North Atlantic, with head- 

 quarters at Cambridge, Mass., South Atlantic and Gulf, 



