PROBLEMS IN WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



been replaced by regional ones attended by the Division 

 Chief from headquarters and those members of the field 

 staff working in each locality. 



Division of Fishery Industries: This division is an in- 

 vestigating organization concerned with the collection and 

 publication of fishery statistics, the conducting of market 

 surveys and with studies designed to solve the technical 

 problems of the fishing industry. Its administrative set-up 

 conforms to its major functions, one section being devoted 

 to the gathering of statistics and the other to technological 

 and mafketing research. 



In order to determine whether our fishery resources are 

 being depleted or not, statistical facts are necessary. By 

 means of agents stationed at the chief fishing ports of the 

 country, directed from district headquarters located in 

 Seattle, Washington; Portland, Maine; and Gloucester, 

 Massachusetts, this division gathers what might be called 

 the " vital statistics " of our fisheries. The statistics cover 

 a wide range of items, including the amount of the annual 

 catch by states, the number of vessels and of persons en- 

 gaged in fishing, the type of nets used and the return for 

 each type in the number of pounds of fish caught, etc. 

 These statistics when compared with those of former years 

 indicate to the biologist in the Division of Scientific In- 

 quiries and to the scientists in the Division of Fish Culture 

 the success or failure of their conservation and restocking 

 efforts. 



The section devoted to technological and marketing re- 

 search is carrying on six major studies, touching nutrition, 

 refrigeration, production methods, net preservation, bacteri- 

 ology, and mechanical equipment. It will not be necessary 

 to go into these studies in any detail but the work done in 

 one, production methods, can be taken as an example. For 



