11 February 1965 
Dear Cam and §ob* 
Dennis called from Midway tonight and reports that all is going 
well on Kure* I like good news. Fell, its over - three weeks of talk¬ 
ing, arguing and planning and the S.I. and the agency seem to have a 
pretty good understanding of the next year's activities* Bill has sent 
you a brief run down so I'll skip that part for now. %• main accomplish¬ 
ment seems to have been to get t.iree weeks farther behind. 
I'm sending along a copy of a memo which can serve as a sort of a 
briefing for 8ll hands. The reduction in staff will mean more responsi¬ 
bility end work for those who remain. It also meens that the field men 
will have to be able to do any job, anywhere, with or without supervision. 
The entire operation is being tightened all down the line and will be 
conducted ss a single integrated project with much more definite prior¬ 
ities and assignments. A more formal description of the new program 
will be circulated as soon as tae formal contract is signed. By l Mgy 
at the latest I must know which people wish to remain for another year 
so that the overall situation can be reviewed, ^o be thinking about 
the new program and whether you would be interested in working under 
tighter conditions. Please return the memo when you have read it. 
Several topics of recent discussion are of direct interest to you 
fellows, /s you probably know by now the blood work will be increased 
and it is either a question of our collecting it or of having the agency 
team collect it. % feeling, which I hope you share, is that we can do 
a better, more representative job than they end with less potential harm 
for our other studies. The agency has agreed that if we can supply blood 
from Kure in sufficient emounts that they will collect on Midway only 
and just fly over to Kure for your samples. I was supposed to see John 
today for details but it is almost flight time and he hasn't called or 
come by yet. Anyway, for the present try to have 200 samples by the end 
of the month. A small series of as many species as possible should be 
included but the majority can be the most readily available soecies. 
I hope to have more details for you soon. 
The details in the bi-monthly reports have been good for the most 
part, especially the last one. 1 am concerned that more of the gulls 
were not collected but I understand that Bill has made this point. Imma¬ 
ture gulls in this area are practically impossible in the field. Tour 
check on the turnover of walker Lgysen's was a good bit of initiative to 
answer a particular question. Such data fits in nicely with our banding 
and recovery activities. Fa will be phrsing into the new program very 
soon even on Kure and it will be easier to allocate time for hi^i priority 
programs, -‘hen sufficient data has been collected to prove the desired 
point, or wnen tae work is not achieving its desired aim or function, it 
will be dropped. 1 long this line it is pbout time to analyze the inter- 
roost movement of boobies and frigates to see wnether we are reaching the 
Bimini returns• 
