14 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



"But in addition to the high degree of accuracy, it is now possible 

 to follow the catches of single boats from year to year, and thus to 

 accurately compare the abundance of fish from day to day and from 

 year to year. And it is the interpretation of the statistics from the 

 standpoint of changes in abundance — including depletion — to which 

 the new laboratory will be mainly devoted. The distinction between 

 the effects of overfishing and those of hydrographic or economic 

 changes, and the explanation of the latter, imply the careful analysis 

 of statistics from a mathematical and biological standpoint. It will be 

 the function of the new laboratory to contribute toward that end, and 

 toward the formulation of whatever knowledge exists. Such a func- 

 tion, it should be noticed, is based primarily upon the legal control of 

 the state over its fisheries, and upon its power to enforce the gathering 

 of statistics — thus assuring, we believe, the permanency of the work. 



' ' Finally, attention might be called to the fact that the vast quantity 

 of material handled by the commercial fisheries provides an unecpaily 

 opportunity for the solution of many of the major problems of biology. 

 We trust that the laboratory will make its contributions to those as well 

 as to the more immediate ends." 



EDUCATION AND PUBLICITY. 



The report of the Department of Education and Publicity shows 

 that a greater number of persons have been reached through the 

 medium of lectures than ever before. Over sixty thousand persons 

 viewed the educational films utilized by the department. Especially 

 notable work has been done in the public schools and with the game pro- 

 tective associations. Lectures and motion pictures visualize the work 

 of the Commission and play an important part in developing a public 

 ■sentiment favorable to fish and game conservation. 



>Summer resort work, which has centered in the Tosemite National 

 Park for the past three seasons, has attracted the interest of many 

 thousands in the conservation program of the California Fish and Game 

 Commission. Under the joint auspices of the National Park Service 

 and the Fish and Game Commission field trips are conducted which offer 

 first hand information regarding the living things along the trail side. 

 Thousands who gather at the evening entertainments are acquainted 

 with the wild life of the state through the medium of lectures and 

 motion pictures, and office hours give an opportunity to thousands who 

 seek information. In no other place can so many people be reached in 

 so short a length of time and interest in wild life conservation be so 

 readily secured. 



Splendid publicity has been maintained mainly through the quarterly 

 magazine, California Fish and Game,, which has now reached an 

 edition of 7000, through magazine articles, and through newspaper 

 items issued to the newspapers of the state. The annual exhibit at the 

 State Fair has also played an important part in the publicity campaign. 



