1368 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



received the appointment, at once entered on his duties, and continued the 

 efficient and highly respected head of the commission until his death, in 1887. 



Professor Baird was succeeded by one of his ablest assistants, Dr. George 

 Brown Goode, eminent as administrator, ichthyologist, and fishery expert, who, 

 however, voluntarily relinquished the commissionership after less than a year's 

 incumbency in order to devote his entire time to the National Museum, of which 

 he was director. Next came Commissioner McDonald, practical fish culturist 

 and inventor of important mechanical appliances now used in the hatching of 

 fish all over the world, who served until his death, in 1895, and was the first 

 salaried commissioner. He was followed by Capt. John J. Brice, a retired naval 

 officer, who held the office for two years and was succeeded in 1898 by the 

 present commissioner, Hon. George Meade Bowers, under whose ten years' 

 administration the service has grown in all its branches. 



From the very outset of its career, the fishery service has had the active 

 support and cooperation of many of the leading biologists, fish culturists, and 

 fishery experts of the country, whose volunteer assistance has been an important 

 factor in its development and efficiency. The early years of the Bureau were 

 devoted to an active investigation of the condition of the fisheries of the 

 Atlantic coast. Great Lakes, and other sections; to studies of the interior and 

 coastal waters and their inhabitants, and to exploration of the offshore fishing 

 banks. The cultivation of useful fishes was soon taken up throughout the 

 country, and quickly attained large proportions. The natural expansion of the 

 work was materially augmented from time to time by acts of Congress, and in 

 a comparatively short time the operations came to have a very wide scope. In 

 more recent years the work has been still further extended, so that at present 

 there is scarcely a phase of aquiculture, of the fishing industry, or of biological 

 and physical science as connected with the waters that does not come within 

 the purview of the Bureau. 



For many years the Bureau was without any executive control in fishery 

 affairs. Under the Constitution the States legislate for themselves in such 

 matters and the Federal Government has assumed no jurisdiction. The 

 Bureau thus had no direct voice in the making or enforcing of any measures 

 for the protection or preservation of aquatic animals, and its position, 

 compared with the fishery service of other countries, was anomalous. In its 

 advisory capacity, however, the Bureau has acquired an influence upon fishery 

 legislation, and has now been given executive powers in Alaska for the enforce- 

 ment of a comprehensive code of laws affecting the salmon fisheries. In the 

 interests of the fur-seal fisheries the Bureau has since 1893 been called on to 

 study the life history and migrations of the seals, to inspect conditions on the 

 islands, and to submit recommendations concerning the killing of the animals. 



