74 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



REPORT OF THE STATE FISHERIES LABORATORY. 



By W. L. ScoFiELD, Acting Director. 



In the last report (twenty-eighth Biennial Report, pages 14-15 and 

 especially pages 53-71), the nature and purpose of the research pro- 

 gram of the department was so clearly set forth that the prasent report 

 may well confine itself to the developments during the last two years. 



Of the thirty-five or forty fisheries of California that rank as import- 

 ant, but eight or ten species are the subject of research by the depart- 

 ment, due largely to a lack of available funds and trained personnel. 

 The policy has been to confine the work to a rather limited field where 

 reliable and fundamental work may be accomplished rather than to 

 attempt to cover superficially a larger field. 



The work of the State Fisheries Laboratory is intended as a basis 

 for future work of the department. As an essential part of the 

 program, it is striving to establish the principles governing the fluctua- 

 tions in abundance of the fish supply and the methods by which the 

 first signs of overfishing may be detected. This attempt to establish 

 fundamentals is best developed in a still more limited field. 



The chief work of the laboratory has, therefore, been largely con- 

 fined to the two most important species of the state, the sardine and 

 the albacore. Although valuable contributions have been made by the 

 laboratory concerning other species, sucli work has been more in the 

 nature of meeting emergency requirements, rather than the deter- 

 mining of underlying principles to serve as a basis upon which to build 

 future work. 



Personnel. — Since the submission of the last report, the personnel of 

 the laboratory staff has changed greatly. The director, Mr. W. F. 

 Thompson, w^as honored by being chosen to direct the halibut research 

 work of the International Fisheries Commission, with headquarters at 

 Seattle, and is now on leave of absence from the state while so engaged. 

 Mr. Thompson, however, continues his albacore research work for the 

 state, and, by means of frequent visits to the laboratory, continues to 

 give valuable assistance in directing and advising as to the carrying 

 out of the research program. During his absence, W. L. Scofield is 

 acting director of the laboratory. 



But two of the former staff members remain, the vacant places having 

 been of necessity filled by inexperienced students. The staff has been 

 enlarged from seven to ten ; but of these ten, only three are as yet capable 

 of independent research work. The condition noted in the twenty- 

 eighth Biennial Report (page 56) is even more apparent now. As soon 

 as workers have received sufficient training to do effective fisheries 

 research, they are attracted elsewhere by more promising positions, at 

 higher salaries than the state is now paying for this specialized investi- 

 gative work. Since the demand for such workers is increasingly great, 

 it is obvious that we will have to offer greater inducements to such men 

 if we hope to retain a nucleus of trained research workers. 



Students, under the personal direction of an experienced man, are 

 capable of doing the field work of gathering the necessary statistical 

 data, but only trained men of specialized experience are capable of 



