GO FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



the laws as passed by tlie legislature and to carry out sucii regulatory 

 powers as have been granted. 



To facilitate this work, the Commission established the Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries. Its title has recently been changed to Bureau 

 of Marine Fisheries, and its field extended to include the marine sport 

 fisheries. 



The enforcement of the commercial fisheries laws which at one 

 time w^as under the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries was transferred 

 to the Bureau of Patrol and Law Enforcement, with the idea of 

 greater efficiency and economy. Under this arrangement a special 

 marine patrol has been established and toward which the Bureau of 

 Marine Fisheries acts in an advisory capacity as it is considered neces- 

 sary that the IMarine Fisheries Bureau be in close touch Avitli the 

 enforcement of the fisheries measures. 



The principal duties of the Bureau of Marine Fisheries are there- 

 fore concerned with fisheries research, with the object of getting suf- 

 ficient knowledge for the proper management of the fisheries. 



To carry out this work the Bureau from the time it was organ- 

 ized some twenty-five years ago began developing a fisheries research 

 staff which has grown in numbers but this growth has not been more 

 rapid than that of the fisheries themselves or the problems raised by 

 their rapid development. A laboratory and statistical building have 

 been built to accommodate this staff of workers. Ocean-going patrol 

 boats have been built and these have been equipped for carrying on 

 the necessary investigations at sea. A new vessel is now under con- 

 struction which will be used mainly for fisheries research work. 



The cost of the research work and the marine patrol and law 

 enforcement, plus the Bureau's proportionate share of such other 

 activities as administration, fish culture, pollution, fish screens and 

 ladders, is entirely paid for from fees, licenses and fisheries taxes col- 

 lected from the marine fishing industries. The total cost of this work 

 is proportionately small as it amounts to less than one-half of one per 

 cent of the annual value of the commercial fishery products. 



The research program for the management of fisheries, to be 

 effective, must be well planned and continuous. The research pro- 

 gram which is being followed is set forth in the following report of 

 the California State Fisheries Laboratory. 



It is not enough that information be obtained upon which the 

 fisheries may be managed so as to get from them the greatest sustained 

 yield. This information must be used or it is effort largely wasted. 

 This applies with equal weight to the management of game and the 

 inland fisheries. Fish and game management has become a very 

 important enterprise rather highly developed and much of it rather 

 technical. Experience has shown that many of the problems of fish 

 and game management are not best decided by a legislature. What is 

 needed is a stable commission, free from political pressure and 

 upheavals, endowed with sufficient regulatory powers to adopt and 

 carry out those conservation measures which are based on technical 

 investigations. 



