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UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Gehin were popularized by the brilliant gen- 

 ius of M. Coste, under whose directorship the 

 first public fish-cultural station was planted at 

 Huningue, in Alsace. The publications and 

 experiments of Fry, Garlick, Ainsworth, At- 

 wood, Stone, Green, Slack, Lyman, and oth- 

 ers, and especially the reproduction in this 

 country of the admirable essay of M. Jules 

 Haime on pisciculture, awakened everywhere 



to be appointed should be a civil officer of the 

 Government, of proved scientific and practical 

 acquaintance with the fishes of the coast, to 

 serve without additional salary. The choice 

 was thus practically limited to a single man. 

 Prof. Spencer F. Baird, at that time the Assist- 

 ant Secretary (since 1878 Secretary) of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, was appointed, and 

 entered at once upon his duties. 



ROOM IN HATCHERY AT HUNIWGUE, ALSACE. 



a sense of the fact that our coast-waters were 

 being rapidly depopulated, and of the coun- 

 ter-fact that their restoration was practicable 

 through reparative and protective measures. 

 Massachusetts appointed a Commissioner of 

 Fisheries in 1865, and prior to 1870 her ex- 

 ample was followed by several other States. 

 The establishment in 1871 of the American 

 Fish-Culturists' Association (now the Ameri- 

 can Fish-Cultural Association) marks the pe- 

 riod at which interest in the fish and fisheries 

 had become sufficiently great and wide-spread 

 to warrant the founding of a national associa- 

 tion. 



The immediate cause of the establishment 

 of the Government Commission was a differ- 

 ence of opinion between the governments of 

 Massachusetts and Rhode Island as to the ex- 

 tent of the destructive effects of the trap and 

 pound fisheries of southern New England, and 

 the proper function of legislation in their regu- 

 lation. 



In 1872, at the instance of the American 

 Fish-Culturists' Association, the commission 

 was charged with the task of restoring fish to 

 depleted waters, and its field of labor was 

 thereby greatly extended. 



The resolution establishing the office of Com- 

 missioner of Fisheries required that the person 



It is generally admitted that the success of 

 the Fish Commission work has been due entire- 

 ly to the wise and energetic management of 

 the commissioner, whose position, as an officer 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, enabled him 

 to secure at once the aid of a body of trained 

 specialists. 



The principal activity of the commissioner 

 has been directed to the wholesale replenish- 

 ment of our depleted waters. The success of 

 fish-culture is well recognized in the United 

 States, and it was especially gratifying to its 

 advocates that in 1880 the grand prize of the 

 International Fisheries Exhibition at Berlin 

 was awarded to Prof. Baird as the " first fish- 

 culturist of the world," and that in 1883, at 

 London, many gold and silver medals were 

 awarded to the Fish Commission, in addition 

 to others distributed among its officers and 

 employe's. 



Division of the Work. The work of the com- 

 mission is naturally divided into three sections: 



1. The systematic investigation of the waters 

 of the United States, and the biological and 

 physical problems which they present. Scien- 

 tific research of this character is based upon a 

 liberal and philosophical interpretation of the 

 law. In making his original plans, the com- 

 missioner insisted that to study only the food- 



