BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



143 



The greatest single problem which the bureau, like other 

 conservative agencies, faces is to stimulate a declining nat- 

 ural resource. It is true that here and there, in certain 

 areas, the fisheries seem to be holding their own and some- 

 times even increasing, but by and large, with ever-increasing 

 demand there has come a decrease in supply. That the 

 nation's fishery resources would be in a very depleted state 

 without the work of the bureau, no one who studies the 

 question can doubt. Equally true is the fact that notwith- 

 standing its efforts there has been a decline. Here again 

 the great problem is the control of predatory men whose 

 depredations can only be met with increasing strictness of 

 regulations and increasing efforts at restocking. It is along 

 these lines that the bureau is conducting its work. It is by 

 following along these lines that the bureau comes closest to 

 carrying out its primary function, the conservation of the 

 fishery resources of the nation. 



