REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. V 



the Commissioner, bis attention was next given to an inquiry as to the 

 "causes of this deterioration and the protective, prohibitory, or per- 

 cantionary measures to be adopted." 



Omitting suggested causes, which were beyond the regulation or con- 

 trol of man, the result of the inquiry was to show that the agency of 

 man was the most potential factor in bringing about this deterioration. 



The injury was brought about directly by the multiplication of traps 

 and pounds and by the absence of any restriction upon the season or 

 methods of the fishery. Indirectly it was facilitated by the obstruc- 

 tion of streams by means of impassable dams and by the pollution of 

 the waters with substances deleterious to the life of fish and to the 

 maintenance of their natural spawning grounds. There was conse- 

 quently a serious diminution in the natural reproduction of the shad 

 and also of the herring and other anadromous species, which form a 

 considerable portion of the food of important marine species along the 

 coast. 



The remedy for the decadence of the industry was to be found in the 

 proper regulation of the fishiug and in systematic and rational methods 

 of propagation. These measures could be based only upon careful study 

 of the methods and conditions of the fisheries and of the environment 

 and habits of the fishes. In order to accomplish its objects the work of 

 the Commission, outside of office administration, is therefore naturally 

 concerned with the inquiry in regard to the food fishes, the study of the 

 methods and conditions of the fisheries, and the conduct of fish-cultural 

 operations. From this distribution of labor arose the divisions of ad- 

 ministration, scientific inquiry, fisheries and fish culture. 



Fish culture as a means of restoring the fisheries was first undertaken 

 by the U. 8. Fish Commission in 1872, being done at the suggestion of 

 the American Fish Culturists Association, which appointed a committee 

 of which Mr. George Shepherd Page was chairman to bring the matter 

 to the attention of Congress. An appropriation of $15,000 for the pur- 

 pose in question was made by Congress on June 10, 1872, and the Com- 

 mission took immediate steps to inaugurate this important work, which 

 in its development has come to be the principal agency for maintaining 

 our most important commercial fisheries. 



The species propagated in 1872 were as follows : The shad, the 

 Maine salmon, the Rhine salmon, the California salmon, and the white- 

 fish. 



The organization outlined above was in effect during Professor Baird's 

 lifetime, although never specifically defined and published by him. 

 Realizing the advantage and necessity of a permanent guide for the 

 operations of the Commission, the Committee on Merchant Marine and 

 Fisheries drafted a bill which was introduced by Mr. Dunn in the 

 House of Representatives April 30, 1888, providing for the reorganiza- 

 tion of the Commission of Fish and Fisheries and defining its duties. 

 Although this never became a law the organization proposed has been 



