4 



U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The fisheries industries are immediately confronted with such acute 

 problems of distribution of products that it would seem only natural 

 if attention were temporarily detracted from the underlying and 

 enduring problems of the industry — those relating to maintenance of 

 the resources upon which the industries are based. Nevertheless the 

 discussions among representatives of all phases of the industry when 

 gathered together in such meetings and conferences as have been held 

 during the recent period of stress have always brought to the front 

 the problems that have to do with the perpetuation of fishery re- 

 sources. Such conditions as the depletion of shad, the decline of the 

 blue-crab fishery, and the deterioration of inshore waters through 

 pollution, command such earnest consideration on these occasions as 

 to prove that fishermen and dealers of broad vision are not misled 

 through immediate difficulties in one department of the industry to 

 minimize the importance of permanent sources of supply. 



Upon due thought, of course, it is evident that the problems of 

 supply must not be forgotten even momentarily; for the difficulties 

 of distribution can be only heightened by continued depletion of re- 

 sources and an inevitably accompanying increase in costs of produc- 

 tion relative to the costs in competing industries. Obviously it can 

 not become easier to market fish when they become less easily obtain- 

 able relative to other materials of protein food. No economic fact 

 can be plainer than that diminishing abundance of fish must be 

 followed by increasing prices and decreasing consumption. 



It is, then, a fundamental and enduring principle that the perpetua- 

 tion of the fisheries and the maintenance of their relative rank among 

 other food-producing industries are contingent upon the continued 

 productiveness of the fisheries — in a word, upon conservation. Con- 

 servation in turn depends upon the exercise of intelligence and re- 

 straint in the exploitation of fisheries resources, upon sound action 

 in removing unnecessary causes of depletion, and upon wisdom in 

 adopting plans for bringing about where possible an increase of 

 particular fish or shellfish. The decline of valuable fisheries has been 

 witnessed too often to admit of continued faith in the inexhaustibility 

 of fish or shellfish of any kind. Yet the intelligent determination of 

 what restrictive measures are necessary, what means of exploitation 

 are unreasonable, or what plans of propagation or development are 

 profitable can be made only upon the foundation of full and correct 

 knowledge of the life histories, habits, and conditions of life of the 

 fish that are to be considered. 



It seems generally agreed, for example, that the blue crab of the 

 Chesapeake is in actual course of extermination by unwise fishery 

 methods, although there may not yet be agreement as to the particular 

 methods which are unwise. Recently this very important question 

 was referred to a conference of representatives of the two States 

 concerned, together with officers of the Department of Commerce. 

 The practical results of such a conference depend much, of course, 

 upon the sound practical judgment and the broad spirit of those 

 bearing the responsibility for determination of action; but the one 

 indispensable basis of action is an understanding of the life of the 

 crab. The sole hope of practical results from a conference of any 

 group of persons having this problem in view rests upon such 



