BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



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inter-mountain region. The life history, abundance and 

 methods of propagation of trout are the chief studies. 

 Upon the advice given by the division, the National Park 

 Service and the Forest Service carry on the restocking pro- 

 gram in the nation's parks and forests. 



The information obtained is not for the use of the fed- 

 eral government alone, but also is made available to the 

 state conservation departments by means of printed pamph- 

 lets and personal conferences. In a sense the division acts 

 as expert consultant to the state departments upon any prob- 

 lem relating to fisheries. Of course, the division has no 

 coercive power to put its recommendations into effect in the 

 various states, and sometimes due to political influence they 

 cannot be immediately carried out. 



The technical staff of the division at the present time 

 consists of some fifty permanent research men with a score 

 of less trained assistants and perhaps another score of tem- 

 porary specialists, chiefly from university faculties, who are 

 employed for limited periods of time. 35 These investigators 

 are distributed over the entire country in small groups 

 organized into compact research units, and maintaining 

 headquarters either at the bureau's biological and experi- 

 mental stations or at some university. 



The division chief is kept informed as to the progress of 

 the various investigations through written narrative reports 

 from the head of each section, who in turn receives reports 

 from his subordinates. In the past the technical personnel 

 have been brought together occasionally in conference, at 

 which time appropriate papers concerning the work of each 

 group would be read and discussed. For the present, due 

 to the economy program, these national conferences have 



35 Appointments to the permanent staff have lagged behind appropria- 

 tions because of a lack of trained candidates for positions. Report of 

 Commissioner (1933), Appendix II, p. 81. 



