VI REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



adopted and the classification of the work and personnel made in sub- 

 stantial agreement with it. A copy of the bill is herewith given : 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 

 in Congress assembled, That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Fish and Fish- 

 eries to continue the systematic investigation of waters of the United States, and ot the 

 biological and physical problems they present, with the object of determining the char- 

 acter, abundance, geographical distribution, and economical value of the inhabitants 

 of the waters, both salt and fresh, as also their migrations, and thecause influencingor 

 regulating the same. This investigation is to be conducted on a broad and compre- 

 hensive plan, so as to arrive at the life history of all species having economic value, 

 as well as of those species to which they are intimately and essentially related. 



Sec. 2. That he will continue the investigation into the history of the methods 

 and apparatus of the fisheries and for the preservation and utilization of fishery 

 products now in use, and will cause careful study to be made of new methods and 

 apparatus introduced from time to time with the object of determining their effect 

 upon production, and furnishing the information upon which to frame intelligent 

 legislation regulating the conduct of the fisheries and improving their methods and 

 apparatus. 



Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries to pro- 

 vide lor the collection of the statistics of the fisheries of the United States, especial 

 reference being had to the fisheries of the Great Lakes and of the New England and 

 North Pacific coasts of the United States, which are of international importance and 

 may influence or become the subject of treaty stipulations. The statistical inquiry 

 hereby authorized and directed shall be comprehensively planned to accomplish the 

 purposes for which it is instituted. 



Sec 4. That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries to con- 

 tinue the work of artificial propagation of food fishes and other useful inhabitants of 

 the water with a view to their introduction into and establishment in the interior 

 and coast waters, and to the maintenance and improvement of the important com- 

 mercial fisheries of the coast and interior lakes and rivers. To this end he will, in 

 his annual estimates transmitted to Congress, provide for the maintenance and oper- 

 ation of the existing stations of the Commission, and for the maintenance and opera- 

 tion of such additional permanent and field stations as may be from time to time 

 authorized and directed. 



Sec 5. That the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries shall appoint such employees 

 as Congress may from time to time provide, with salaries corresponding to those of 

 similar officers in other departments of the Government, and he shall, as Congress 

 may from time to time provide, employ other persons, of expert knowledge, for such 

 time as their services may be needed, including chemists, naturalists, and physicists, 

 for the conduct of the researches and investigations required in the performance of 

 the duties devolved upon this Department, or which may be from time to time author- 

 ized and directed bv Congress. 



V 



