14 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



"But iji addition to tlie liigli 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 nuiinly 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 l)iological 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 pernumency of the work. 



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

 of material handled by the commercial fisheries provides an unequally 

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

 We trust that the laboratory will make its contril)utions 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 pulilic schools and with the game pro- 

 tective associations. Lectures and motion pictures visualize the w^ork 

 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 Yosemite National 

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

 thousands in the conservation program of the ( -alifornia Fish and Game 

 Commission. Under the joint auspices of the National Park Service 

 and the Fish and Game Commission field trips are conducted which of¥er 

 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 stale through the iiKHlium of lectures and 

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

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

 so shoi't a length ol' time and interest in wild life eonservation be so 

 readily secured. 



Splendid publicity has l)een nurintained nuiinly through the quarterly 

 magazine. (Vm.tp^ohnfa Fish and Gami<:. which has now reached an 

 e(liti(tn of 7()(H). through maiiazine articles, and tliruugh newspaper 

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

 State Fair has also played an ini|)oi-lant pai't in llw^ piil)licity campaign. 



