Baird's Legacy: 

The History and Accomplishments of NOAA's
 

National Marine Fisheries Service, 1871-1996
 

w. L. Hobart, Editor 

C"'O".O""".'C:ll;

l~I"\s 


 

'Zc. ~&
 , 0(".0 ~.,.

"lo9r""fNTOf c; 

June 1996 

NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-F/SPO-18 

Second Printing 

U.S. DEPARTMENT NATIONAL OCEANIC NATIONAL MARINE 

OF COMMERCE AND ATMOSPHERIC FISHERIES SERVICE 

ADMINISTRATION 

Michael Kantor D. James Baker Rolland A. Schmitten 

Secretary Under Secretary for Assistant Administrator 

Oceans and Atmosphere for Fisheries 
Copies of this publication (NOAA Tech. Memo.
 

NMFS-F/SPO-18) are available from:
 

National Marine Fisheries Service
 

Scientific Publications Office
 

7600 Sand Point Way NE
 

Seattle, WA 98115
 

206-526-6107
 
Table of Contents 

The Beginning 1
 

The First Years: 1871-1896 6
 

A New Century: 1897-1921 13
 

Depression and War Years: 1922-1946 16
 

Progress and Change: 1947-1971 22
 

The Present Era: 1972-1996 37
 

Summary 39
 

The Future 44
 

Acronyms and Abbreviations 46
 

Acknowledgments 47
 

About the NMFS 48
 

ESh. 

The word evokes many thoughts 

and images-deep-fried shrimp, a 

tuna sandwich, cod fillets, oysters 

on the half-shell. Or, a salmon tugging on the line, a leaping marlin, 

or maybe just the slap of the waves 

and the brisk sea air. 

But for the Nation, fish have always been important, first for food 

and trade, often for recreation, and 

even as a key component of National 

security. 

So it should not be too surprising 

that the Nation's first Federal conservation agency, initiated in 1871, 

was devoted to the protection, study, 

management, and restoration of 

fish. This agency was the United 

States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, usually just called the "Fish 

Commission." Later it was renamed 

the Bureau of Fisheries, and still 

later it became the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. Today its direct 

descendant is NOAA's National 

Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). 
The year 1996 is thus a major 

milestone for the NMFS-its 125th 

Anniversary as the Nation's oldest 

Federal conservation and environmental research agency. Some of 

its activities have been well known: 

Fish culture and marine mammal 

protection and restoration, for example. Less known are the Fish 

Commission/NMFS roles in initiating and promoting basic and applied oceanographic and marine 

biological and ecological research, 

food product development, fishery 

development, and many other important tasks. 

The U.S. Commission of Fish and 

Fisheries was created by Congress 

on February 9, 1871, and charged 

with studying and recommending 

solutions to an apparent decline in 

New England's fishes. Its first Commissioner was Spencer Fullerton 

z 

Spencer Fullerton Baird 

Baird, Assistant Secretary of the 

Smithsonian Institution and an internationally acclaimed scientist. 

Baird was already well aware of 

the New England fishermen's concerns. Most important, though, he 

recognized that there would be no 

simple answers to the problems he 

had been directed to investigate. 

Except in the areas of sounding and 

charting of the sea coasts, knowledge 

of the Nation's seas, and especially 

its fish and fisheries, was scant. 

Keenly aware of those deficiencies, Baird quickly initiated the 

Nation's first marine ecological studies. As he put it, studying only the 

fish "... would not be complete 

without a thorough knowledge of 

their associates in the sea, especially 

of such as prey upon them or constitute their food...." He also sought 

data on "... the temperature of the 

water taken at different depths, its 

varying transparency, density, chemical composition, percentage of saline matter, its surface and under 

currents, and other features of its 

physical condition" because these 

were "likely to throw more or less 

light upon the agencies which exer­
cise an influence upon the presence or absence of particular 

fishes." 

In short, Baird sought to explore the "physical, natural, and 

economical features of the sea" 

as fully as possible. In so doing, he 

laid important groundwork for an 

agency of immense productivity. 

In sum, the Fish Commission/ 

NMFS has provided 125 years of 

conservation and environmental 

leadership while conducting a 

broad spectrum of basic and applied research into fisheries and 

marine biology, food science and 

technology, marine ecosystems, 

environmental health and contamination' marine mammal science' and much more. 

ActuallY, the roots of the u.s. 

Fish Commission lie deep in the 

Nation's history. Secretary of State 

Thomas Jefferson discussed the Federal interest in fisheries in 1791, 

noting how fishermen had been devastated during the Revolutionary 

War and reviewing their importance 

in trade and as "a nursery for forming seamen." 

Jefferson was not the only 

Founding Father or President interested in fisheries. Benjamin 

Franklin had made early observations of marine life, and his charting 

of the Gulf Stream allowed mariners 

to greatly cut travel time to and 

from Europe. And later, in 1822, 

John Quincy Adams collected and 

published a volume on "The Duplicate Letters, the Fisheries and the 

Mississippi" for the treaty negotiations at Ghent where protection of 

U.S. fishing rights had been of prime 

importance. 

CHRONOLOGY OF tax relief, a retaliatory tariff on foreign fish in it, whenever and wherever we 

NOTABLE DATES products, and promotion of free markets wish.".....John Quincy Adams. 

abroad. 

1782 1819 

Preliminary Articles of Peace between 1811 Canning is introduced into the United 

England and the United States are Christopher Barker and John Tallman States by Ezra Daggett and Thomas 

adopted. Article 3 deals with the U.S. ' ... commenced the business of making oil Kensett who pack oysters and other 

rights to fish on the Grand Bank and out of menhaden fish, with the use of two seafood in New York. 

other Newfoundland banks in the 'Gulph' iron pots, upon the shore, a few rods 

of Sf. lawrence and elsewhere. south of what was then called the Black 1822 

Point wharf, near Portsmouth, R.I." John Quincy Adams publishes his book 

1791 'The Duplicate letters, the Fisheries and 

Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson de­ 1815 the Mississippi," relating to the negotiation 

livers the Nation's first comprehensive 'Neither nature nor art has partitioned the of the Treaty of Ghent where he was one 

fisheries report to the U.S. Congress on sea into kingdoms, repUblics or states ... of the U.S. Commissioners. 

February 2nd, noting the "superiority of the ocean and its treasures are the com· 

our mariners in skill, activity, enterprise, mon property of all men, and we have a 1823 

sobriety and order" and recommending natural right to navigate the ocean and to Spencer Fullerton Baird is born on Febru3 
By the time that Spencer Baird Baird began his own marine of the new U.S. Commission of Fish 

was named Assistant Secretary of studies at Woods Hole, Mass., in and Fisheries, at first a Commission 

the Smithsonian Institution in 1850, 1863, and his later coastal excur­ of one-Baird in an unsalaried posiinterest was also stirring in the Eu­ sions made him acutely aware of tion and operating out of his own 

ropean rediscovery of trout and the fishermen's concerns about fish home. 

salmon culture. Many believed that declines. In 1870, he persuaded 

fish culture would help repopulate Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Congress' first charge to the Fish 

New England waters with Atlantic Henry to allot $100 for his summer Commission in 1871 was to study 

salmon, trout, shad, and other de­ marine study with a 30-foot sloop the reasons for the decline of several 

pleted species. And by the middle borrowed from the Treasury De­ New England and lake fishes and 

1860's, a handful of New England partment. Later that winter, Baird recommend solutions. But just a 

states had set up small state "fish drew up a plan for a Federal in­ year later Congress gave it a new 

commissions" to explore the possi­ quiry into New England's fishery task-fish culture-and $15,000 to 

bility of fish culture. problems, which led to the creation study and promote it. 

ary 3rd. He eventually will become an Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution by ishment is now no longer problematical."­ the northern fur seal from high-seas killing. hires Vinal N. Edwards, as the first permainternationally recognized systematic zo­ Secretary Joseph Henry. Dr. Theodatus Garlick, the first U.S. trout nent Commission employee. 

ologist, ornithologist, author, Smithsonian cullurisl. 1870 

Secretary, and in 1871, the first Commis­ 1853 The Federal government assumes man­ The Fish Commission is directed by 

sioner of the U.S. Commission of Fish and Lorenzo Sabine delivers to the Secretary 1864 agement of the Pribilof Islands' fur seal Congress .... to determine whether a dimiFisheries. of the Treasury his thorough and well­ The first successful U.S. salmon cannery resource. nution of the number of food-fishes of the 

documented treatise ·Report on the Princi­ begins operation at Sacramento, Calif. coast and lakes of the U.S. has taken 

1831 pal Fisheries of the American Seas." The American Fish Culturist's Associa­ place; and, if so, to what causes the same 

.... all of us went up the Tulpehoclan on 1867 tion (now the American Fisheries Society) is due; and whether any and what protecthe 4th of July to go afishing. we caught 1857 Shrimp is first canned commercially near is formed in New York City. tive prohibitory or precautionary measures 

8catfish and 2 sunfish, they fired the 2 ·It should not be surprising that the sub­ Louisiana's Grand Terre Island. should be adopted in the premises...." 

brass cannons off in our street and broke ject [of fish culture] is attracting the atten· 1871 Baird immediately iniliates a broad specyour office window."-Spencer Baird, age tion of some of the best minds in our Alaska, with its vast but untapped The United States Commission of Fish and trum of ecological research. 

8, in a letter to his attorney father. country; more especially when we con­ marine and anadromous fishery resources, Fisheries, formed on February 9th, is the 

sider the impoverished condition of our is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million. first Federal agency concerned with natu­ Baird and a party of eminent zoologists 

1850 rivers and streams, many of which are Furs, rather than fishes, were the most ral resource conservation. Spencer F. establish the Commission's first summer 

Baird. now professor of natural history at susceptible of being inhabited by innumer­ prominent resource, and later the U.S. Baird, Assistant Secretary of the Smithso­ station at Woods Hole, Mass.; others conDickinson College, is hired as Assistant able salmon and trout, and since replen- Fish Commission would move to protect nian, first U.S. Fish Commissioner, soon duct research at Cape Hatteras and on 

(Cont. on page 7.) 

4 
Baird 

shoves 

off for a 

collecting 

trip in New 

England waters 

with Goode in the bow. 

By then, interest in fish culture 

had been growing for 20 years, and 

it was widely seen as a panacea for 

decimated New England Atlantic 

salmon and shad runs. Much of the 

Commission's efforts to promote 

fish culture were rooted in the concept as expressed by Baird's assistant, George Brown Goode, that it 

was far better to make fish abundant and cheap so they could be 

fished with fewer restrictions than 

to just pass stricter laws to protect 

fewer and fewer fish. 

A related drive, fish "acclimatization," introducing new fishes to 

new waters, was also growing, and 

the new US. Fish Commission 

would playa major international 

role in both enterprises. In fact, 

fish culture would command the 

lion's share of the Fish Commission's program for nearly a century. 

The new US. Fish Commission 

not only gave American fish culture 

a strong boost, it also spurred the 

establishment of state fish commissions. In 1871 there were only 11 

small state fish commissions, but 

just 6 years later 26 state fish commissions were operating. In large 

part, this growth was due to Baird's 

advocacy of state commissions for 

more effective fish cultural work. 

In addition, Baird and the US. 

Fish Commission became a hub of 

fish culture information and a major source of fish and fish eggs for 

distribution not only in America 

and Europe, but as far away as Australia and New Zealand. In a very 

real sense, then, part of Baird's 

legacy lives on in today's spectacularly successful fish farms for trout, 

salmon, crayfish, shrimp, catfish, 

and many other species-a fastgrowing multi-million dollar international industry. 

5 
The First Years: 

1871-1896 

When the u.s. Fish Commission 

began, America's primary fishing 

areas were situated off the east coast 

and in parts of the Great Lakes. The 

great fisheries of the Pacific coast 

states and the Territory of Alaska 

were virtually unmapped and untapped, and most major u.s. southeast and Gulf of Mexico fisheries 

were awaiting exploration and study 

by Fish Commission scientists. 

Baird quickly organized the 

Commission's work into three 

categories: 

• Systematic studies of U.S. waters and fishes and their bio100icai and physical problems, 

• Studies of past and present 

6 

fishing methods and compilation of fish catch and trade 

statistics, and 

• The introduction and propagation of "useful food-fishes" 

throughout the Nation. 

The first part comprised the 

Commission's pioneering biolO$ical, 

ecological, and oceanographic studies. First pursued off New England 

and in the Great Lakes, they would 

later expand to the Southeast, the 

Pacific coast, and across the Pacific 

into Asian waters. 

Studies of fishing methods had 

more practical aspects. As Goode 

put it in 1880, "Fishery methods 

and apparatus must be examined 

and compared with those of other 

lands, that the use of those which 

threaten the destruction of useful 

The Commission's first hatchery 

on California's McCloud River. 

fishes may be discouraged, and that 

those which are inefficient may be 

replaced by others more serviceable." 

Similar research today is producing 

better fishing nets and techniques to 

harvest only the species wanted and 

to exclude and protect creatures like 

sea turtles and marine mammals. 
Likewise, the fish catch and trade propriation was $15,000, three 

statistics generated by Baird had times the amount allotted for the 

practical applications-particularly New England and Great Lakes studfor Congressional reviews of inter­ ies. In addition, its scope was nanational treaties or in the imposition tionwide, and it fostered corollary 

of tariffs, and also as marketing research into fish physiology, emguides for the fishing industry and bryology, diseases, and more. 

for educating consumers. 

To cope with the lack of Atlan tic 

salmon eggs, Baird sent prominent 

But it was the third element, fish culturist Livingston Stone to 

fish culture and introductions, that California in 1872 to search for a 

quickly assumed prominence. Con­ source of eggs of the "quinnat" or 

gress' initial 1872 fish culture ap- chinook salmon which was renowned for its great size and abundance. 

Stone soon built the first Federal 

fish cultural station on California's 

McCloud River from which salmon 

eggs were sent not only to the east 

and Gulf coasts but also around the 

world. 

By 1880, the Commission's fish 

culture work was famous worldwide. At the International Exhibition in Berlin that year, the firsthonor prize, a gold medal from the 

Emperor of Germany, was awarded 

Stone and his assis­ Sea Fisheries of the South Coast of New 

tants swim to safety, but three people die England in 1871 and 1872." 

1874 

On July 2nd, Stone releases 35,000 "Baggage-masters will allow agents of the 

Hudson River shad into the Sacramento [U.S. Fish] Commission to ride in the 

River. Shad transplants continue for sev­ baggage-cars [and] to attend to the tanks 

eral years, and the Atlantic species be­ which they have charge."-A. J. Cassett, 

comes well established on the Pacific Pennsylvania Railroad Company. 

The Baird Hatchery on the McCloud 

Baird publishes the first of the annual River is recognized as a permanent staUSFC reports on the Commission's opera­ tion of the Fish Commission. From it, fertions and research. The series provides a tilized salmon eggs are shipped around 

much-needed outlet for scientific reports the world. The hatchery site now lies unon the Nation's fisheries and oceano­ der the waters behind Shasta Dam. 

graphic studies. The first edition details 

Baird's findings on "The Condition of the 

the Great Lakes. Baird personally inves· On August 30th, Livingston Stone station in Portland, Maine, is augmented bridge collapses.
 

tigates the alleged decrease of southern makes the first collection and fertilization by the loan of an 80-ton steamer from the
 

New England fisheries, taking testimony of salmon eggs at Baird Station on the U.S. Navy. Outer waters between Mount in the accident.
 

from many witnesses. McCloud River in northern California and Desert and Cape Cod are also explored
 

ships them to the east coast by rail. He is with the U.S. Coast Survey steamer 

1872 also appointed Secretary of the American Bache. 

In March, northern fur seal research on Fish Culturist's Association. 

the Pribilof Islands begins when Henry In January, Stone plants Great Lakes 

Wood Elliot of the Treasury Department is On October 23rd, 30,000 chinook whitefish into Clear Lake, Calif., the first 

sent to the islands to supervise fur seal salmon eggs are shipped from California of many such unsuccessful efforts there. coast. 

management. Under Baird's direction, to the East Coast; all but 7,000 die in tranElliot conducts the first seal studies, and sit. About 200-300 hatch and are raised Stone, with a special railway "Califorhis watercolors illustrate every aspect of to fingerling size and planted unsuccess­ nia Aquarium Car" leaves Charlestown, 

seal life. fully in the Susquehanna River in March N.H., for the Pacific coast on June 3rd. 

1873. Approximately 300,000 fish, including catThe Commission's summer station is fish, eels, bullheads, perch, bass, trout, 

set up at Eastport, Maine, and a special 1873 and lobsters, are accidentally planted in 

herring study is made. The Fish Commission's summer research Nebraska's Elkhorn River when a railroad 

7 
1874-75 first imported from Germany. sardine cannery began operating in investigation of the subject was arranged scribes the efforts of a New Jersey gas 

The Commission's research work is cen- Nantes. France. and partially undertaken." The full study of company to remove harmful products from 

tered at Noank, Conn., and an attempt is 1877 America's fisheries and their history and distilled coal waste before dumping it into 

made to introduce shad to European "To conductors and Baggage-masters. Fish Commission investigations resume status would later be published as part of the Delaware River. 

waters. You will permit his (Fish Commission at Salem. Mass., and later at Halifax, Nova the Tenth U.S. Census. 

deputy's] cans of living fish 10 be carried Scotia. Federal carp ponds are establish­ 1878 

1875 in the baggage cars."-Gen'l Superinten­ ed in Washington, D.C. The first salmon cannery in Alaska is The U.S. Fish Commission occupies a 

Federal and private funds are used to dent, Lake Shore &Michigan Southern established at Klawok. permanent station in Gloucester, Mass., to 

renovate a shed into a more permanent, Railway Co., Cleveland. The Halifax Fishery Commission is supplement fish propagation studies at the 

two-story laboratory at Woods Hole, com­ charged with settling the amount of com- The first major monograph on the men- Woods Hole Station. This would eventuplete with a windmill for pumping seawater "The War Department furnished the pensation to be paid by the United States haden, a prolific and widely useful species, ally become the first seafood technology 

to research aquaria. (Baird] station amilitary guard this year, for the privilege of fishing off the eastern is published by G. Brown Goode, Assistant laboratory in the United States. 

which proved to be a very valuable acqui- Canadian Provinces, and Commissioner Fish Commissioner. The menhaden is still 

1876 sition.·-livingston Stone. Baird is summoned to testify. Baird's assis­ one of the Nation's most important fisher- The first clam cannery in the United 

The Fish Commission presents a large tant, G. Brown Goode, reports that "The ies, and research into its ecology and utili- States is established at Pine Point, Maine. 

exhibit of fish cullure methods and as- The first successful U.S. east coast information at that time available concern­ zation continues today. Also, crab is first canned at Norfolk, Va. 

pects of American fisheries at the Phila­ sardine cannery is started at Eastport, ing the fisheries was found to be so slight 

delphia International Exhibition; carp are Maine, 43 years after the world's first and imperfect that a plan for systematic J. R. Shotwell, in a letter to Baird, de- The breeding of cod and haddock is 

_..:::rOne of the Commission's "fish cars." 

to Baird partly to commend the 

Commission's exhibit but also to 

honor him as "the first [premier] 

fish culturist in the world." 

Thus, the Commission's first 

few years set a research agenda 

which, with few modifications, 

served it well for over a century. 

In fact, many of the types of work 

started in the Commission's first 

decade are still fruitfully pursued 

8 
A u.s. Fish Commission fisheries and aquaculture exhibition display of the late 1800's. 

In the protection and restoration 

of the Nation's fisheries. 

For the first few years, the Commission conducted marine studies 

from a series of summer stations, 

the first set up by Baird at Woods 

Hole, Mass. Later summer stations 

were set up at Eastport and Portland, Maine; Noank, Conn.; Salem 

and Gloucester, Mass.; Newport, 

R.I.; and other east coast and Great 

Lakes sites. 

accomplished at Gloucester, Mass.	 investigations of methods for freezing fish, with the Superintendent of the Tenth U.S. at Newport, R.I., where the Fish Hawk op- cies to the list of known marine creatures 

and in 1882 net preservatives are studied. Census, dispatches specialists to all parts erates for the season. Over 50 Commis- in New England waters-not including 

The Commission publishes six annual of the Nation to study and record the bio· sion investigators are in the field. finfishes. About 100 newly discovered 

or biannual reports totaling 5,650 pages The Fish Commission's summer station logical, statistical, and practical aspects of finfishes were added during the same 

during 1871-78, and they provide a much is located at Provincetown, Mass. all U.S. fisheries. The results are pub- Spencer Baird receives the 'first·honor period on the Atlantic coast. 

needed outlet for fisheries and oceano- lished in 1887 as a huge, comprehensive prize' at the Berlin Exposition from the 

graphic research papers and reports. Oyster propagation is accomplished seven-volume work on "The Fisheries and Emperor of Genmany, not only for the ex· Despite having a very stylish Washing· 

cooperatively with the Maryland Fish Com-	 Fishery Industries of the United States.' cellence of the Commission's fisheries ton address (1445 Massachusetts Ave.), 

1879 mission and under the direction of Major display, but also owing to the inte rna- Baird is characterized in an article 'CelebriCommissioner Baird initiates a landmark Ferguson. Distribution of the German The Fish Commission's first research tional regard of Baird who was widely ties at Home," as 'dressing in the plain and 

stUdy on the composition of fish to deter· carp is also initiated-a move later rued. vessel, the 156.5-foot U.S.S. Fish Hawk is seen as the preeminent fish culturist for slightly old-fashioned style of a well·to-do 

mine their food and nutritive values. The launched. The coal-bu rning steamer is his successful promotion of fish culture country English farmer.' 

research, conducted by W. O. Atwater and One hundred and fifty east coast built to serve as a floating hatchery in and fish acclimatization-exchanging fish 

Charles Woods, provides important bench· striped bass are successfully transplanted coastal waters for shad, herring, and and fish ova throughout the world. This is ' ... a most wonderlul fauna, 

mark data, many of which are still useful by Livingston Stone to the Pacific near striped bass production. vastly exceeding in richness and extent on 

today. Martinez, Calif. Prof. Addison E. Verrill estimates that anything known to science.'-So F. Baird, 

1880 in just 10 years, research, mainly by the on results of explorations of the Gulf· 

The field of fish technology opens with The Fish Commission, cooperating The Fish Commission's summer station is Commission, has added 1,000 new spe· 

9 
Growth and change for the Further growth in the Commis­ EnallY, in 1887, a great era in 

Commission accelerated in the sion's work also required a perma­ American science came to an end 

1880's. To pursue the Nation's nent research facility. Thus, the when Commissioner Baird died at 

high-seas fishery and oceanograph­ Fish Commission's new Woods Hole the Woods Hole Laboratory on Auic studies, Baird also needed a large, Laboratory, completed in 1885, be­ gust 19th. He was succeeded temspecialized research vessel. Thus, came the first u.s. marine science porarily by his assistant, George 

he inaugurated construction of the station and the second such in the Brown Goode, and a few months 

Albatross, a new state-of-the-art world after Anton Dohrn's famous later, permanently by noted fish 

research vessel, launched in 1882, research station at Naples, Italy. culturist Marshall McDonald, the 

whose pioneering studies over the Initially, the Woods Hole Laboratory first full-time, salaried u.s. Fish 

coming decades would open up new was a combination research station Commissioner. 

fisheries on both coasts and truly and cod hatchery.
 

globalize u.s. biological and ocean­ As interest grew in Pacific coast
 

0graphic research. fisheries, the Albatross was disstream slope 80 miles south of Martha's conduct its marine investigations in any 1883 building remains in use until 1958. The 1886 

Vineyard, Mass. part of the world's seas. Woods Hole, Mass., property is deeded to Commission's research vessels Fish Hawk The Grampus, another Commission rethe U.S. Government for the construction and Albatross begin using the permanent search ship, is completed, prOViding a 

More than 260,000 fertilized rainbow Volume I, for 1881, of the Bulletin of of the Commission's first full-time research facility as a base. revolutionary new fishing vessel design. 

trout ova are shipped east from California the United Slates Fish Commission is pub­ laboratory. 

for distribution to state fish commissions. lished "... for the purpose of utilizing and In summer, Atlantic shad are trans­ 1887 

of promptly publishing the large amount of Baird suggests that purer forms of salt ported in a railroad car to the Pacific coast On August 19th, Spencer F. Baird, first 

1882 interesting correspondence of the Fish be used to solve the problem of "red" cod, and planted in Washington Territory and Commissioner of Fisheries, dies at Woods 

The Woods Hole Station receives its first Commission in reference to matters per­ adiscoloration found in cured cod. Oregon waters. On return, clams, Tapes Hole, Mass. Confined to a wheelchair in 

presidential visit from Chester A. Arthur taining to fish culture and to the appara­ staminea, are collected and brought back his latter days, he reportedly requested 

who is taken for a collecting cruise in the tus, methods, and results of the fisher- 1884 to Woods Hole. that he be wheeled around the station "for 

Commission steamer Despatch. ies...." Parts of the text were distributed Construction of the laboratory building at final contact with his handiwork." He is 

"signature by signature, the remainder in Woods Hole begins. Baird writes excitedly about acquisition buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, 

In March, the 234-foot U.S.S. Alba­ bound [annual] volumes." Now the quar­ of female and male pygmy sperm whales D.C. 

tross, the first U.S. research vessel built terly, peer-reviewed journal Fishery Butle­ 1885 taken from Atlantic waters. These whales 

exclusively for fisheries and oceano­ tin, this series has been in continuous The new Woods Hole Laboratory is com­ had been known to exist only in the Pacific "... There rises again the thought that 

graphic research, is launched. The iron­ publication for 115 years. pleted in February, built with a combina­ Ocean. kept recurring then, that the sea is very 

hull, twin-screw vessel was designed to tion of Federal and private funds. The ancient, that it ebbed and flowed before 

10 
patched in 1888 to conduct research 

from California to Alaska, along the 

South American coast, and into III 

Asian waters as well. In addition, 

-~ the Albatross was indispensable for 

patrolling and protecting fur seal 

herds in the North Pacific. 

An immense and pioneering 

work on the nutritional values of 

fish-another field in which the I 

The Wood's Hole Laboratory and the u.s.s. Albatross (left). In the center is the main 

laboratory, and the large building to the right is the residence for researchers. 

man appeared on the planet, and will ebb 

and flow after he and his words have disappeared; and a singular, indefinite impression, as if something had passed that 

was, in some fashion, great and mysterious, and ancient like the sea itself."­

Edwin Linton, speaking of the day of 

Baird's death. 

The Marine Biological laboratory (MBl), 

a private research facility, is established 

at Woods Hole, and staff are given free 

access to Commission facilities. 

Rainbow trout, a western species, is 

doing so well in eastern U.S. fish culture 

stations that shipments of them from the 

west are discontinued. 

In September, George Brown Goode 

temporarily succeeds Baird, but he resigns 

after 6 months to devote full time to his 

duties as Director of the U.S. National 

Museum. 

The huge and extensive five-section, 

seven-volume review of the history and 

conditions of U.S. fisheries is published by 

the Commission. Edited by George Brown 

Goode, it is titled "The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States.' 

1888 

On January 20th, Congress establishes 

the U.S. Fish Commission as an independent agency of the Federal government 

and terminates its administrative relationship with the Smithsonian Institution. 

Marshall McDonald is appointed Commissioner at a salary of $5,000 per year. 

The Albatross sails to the Pacific 

Ocean where it is used for fisheries and 

oceanographic research and for marine 

mammal (fur seal) law enforcement 

patrols until 1914. 

On July 4th, the first Federal efforts in 

fishery studies along the North Pacific 

coast be9in as the Albatross leaves San 

Francisco to collect marine samples and 

observe fish and other aquatic life. It conducts fisheries investigations off the 

coasts of California, Oregon, Washington, 

and Alaska. 

Commission and its successor agencies became deeply involved-was 

published in 1888 by W. O. Atwater. 

w. O. Atwater publishes the 200-page 

report on the nutritive values of various 

fishes in the "Report of the Commissioner 

of Fisheries for 1888-1889." It provides a 

basic reference on proximate composition 

of fish and shellfish and remains valuable 

today for comparison of composition ranges 

in relation to species size and distribution. 

The Pacific halibut fishery is inaugurated as a sailing schooner returns to Seattle 

with its catch. 

1889 

H. V. P. Wilson publishes his classic fish 

embryology paper on sea bass, based on 

his work at the Fish Commission laboratory. 

Pacific halibut is shipped to the east 

coast by rail, and as the market develops 

and demand grows, the fishery gradually 

expands farther offshore. 

The Albatross is ordered to escort the 

Dawes Commission along the Pacific 

coast. 

Livingston Stone likens the Pacific 

salmon of Alaska to the buffalo and calls 

for the formation of a "National Salmon 

Park." 

1890's 

The Albatross carries two presidentially 

appointed commissions to study the plight 

of the fur seal; their reports confirm that 

(Cont. on page 13.) 

I 1 
Also that year, the Fish Commission 

was fully separated from the Smithsonian Institution. Goode had set up 

four formal divisions: Administration' Scientific Inquiry, Fish Culture, 

and Statistical Inquiry, and the latter 

was soon renamed the "Division of 

Fisheries," working on fishery methods and, later, on fish technology 

and marketing. Still, the agency's 

overall administrative framework 

would last almost unchanged for 

nearly 60 years, adding only an 

Alaska Division in 1911 and a Law 

Enforcement Division in 1930. 

Much early Commission work 

was devoted to exploring the 

Nation's virtually untapped fisheries. This ranged from experimental 

fishing to helping develop new or 

improved fishing gear and techniques, perfecting new ways of preserving, packaging, and marketing 

12 

fishery products, and developing 

new fish cooking techniques-particularly for the new species being 

brought to market. Meanwhile, 

researchers studied various pollution problems. This ranged from 

helping fish processors properly 

dispose of fish wastes to studying 

the effects of industrial wastes and 

pesticides on aquatic organisms, 

and more. 

In the 1890's, Livingston Stone, 

who had ranged the Pacific coast 

seeking the best sites for salmon 

culture, grew disillusioned about 

the prospects for the yet abundant 

Pacific salmon. Fearing they would 

go the way of the buffalo, he had 

proposed in 1889 a "National 

Salmon Park" for Alaska, and, on 

the basis of his recommendation, 

part of Alaska's Afognak Island 

was set aside as a "Forest and Fish 

Cultural Reserve" in 1892. Later, 

in 1896, Congress moved to regulate Alaska salmon fishing with net 

restrictions, closed seasons, spawning escapement requirements, etc. 

Concerns also mounted in the 

1890's for the future of the northern fur seal. In 1893, the Fish 

Commission was given responsibility for fur seal research, and the 

Albatross patrolled the Pribilofs and 

the high seas to ward off poachers. 

.cr 
Unfortunately, the Albatross was 

just one vessel in a vast northern 

sea, and law enforcement remained 

a problem. 

A New Century: 

1897-1921 

The turn of the century-the 

Nation's "progressive conservation 

movement" era-brought many 

advances: national wildlife refuges A fur seal breeding colony, Pribilof 

Islands, Alaska, in the late 1800's. and national forests were being set 

seal populations are being seriously 

harmed by pelagic (high-seas) seal 

hunting. 

1891 

September 6th, Vineyard Haven, Mass.: 

"About 7 o'clock last evening, during the 

southeasterly storm, United States Fish 

Commission schooner Grampus, bound to 

Woods Holl (sic) from Hyannis, ran ashore 

on L'Hommidieu shoal, Vineyard Sound. 

United States Fish Commissioner Col. 

McDonald, his wife and daughter, Assistant Commissioner Capt. J. W. Collins, 

and Drs. Bean and Patten, left the schooner in a dory, and succeeded in making a 

safe landing at Falmouth." The Grampus 

was later refloated. 

1892 

Based on Stone's recommendations, 

Afognak Island, Alaska, is set aside as 

a Forest and Fish Cultural Reserve. 

The last of four carloads with 1,000 

specimens of fish representing 40 species 

is delivered by the Commission to the Chicago Wond's Fair for a fish culture exhibit. 

Acontract 10 complete a fishway at 

Great Falls, Va., on the Potomac River is 

accepted for $15,000. 

1893 

The U.S. Fish Commission becomes responsible for northern fur seal research. 

1895 

The Commission's Division of Propagation 

and Distribution of Food Fishes is established. 

1896 

Salmon research from the Alba/ross leads 

Congress to regulate Alaskan salmon fishing with net restrictions, closed seasons, 

spawning escapement requirements, etc. 

The first successful Pacific coast sardine cannery is established at San Pedro, 

Calif. 

The rainbow trout is now successfully 

acclimatized in almost every state east of 

the Rocky Mountains. 

up, and new laws were passed to 

protect the Nation's fish and wildlife 

resources, notably the Lacey Act and 

the Black Bass Act. 

For the 30-year-old u.s. Fish 

Commission, it brought a new home. 

Formerly independent, the agency 

was renamed the u.s. Bureau of 

Fisheries (BOF) in 1903 and placed 

in the newly established u.s. Department of Commerce and Labor. 

A year earlier the Nation's second 

Federal marine science laboratory 

1897 

The Fish Commission publishes "A 

Manual of Fish Culture," and 60 years 

later it is still considered "the most complete text on the subject.' 

1898 

In response to commercial obstruction of 

Alaska's Kartuk River, Congress passes 

its first salmon protection law. 

1899 

The U.S. River and Harbors Act allows 

Alaska fishermen to secure a permit 

granted by the War Department to buy 

salmon traps. The War Department's sole 

interest in the matter is to assure that the 

traps would not obstruct navigation. 

For the first time, total Commission 

production of fish eggs, fry, and larger fish 

exceeds one billion. 

Early 1900's 

The western-style purse seine is first 

used in the Pacific herring fishery, gradually replacing the Norwegian style of oarpropelled seine boats. 

1900 

President Theodore Roosevelt signs a 

law for construction of the second Federal 

fisheries laboratory in the United States 

at Beaufort, N.C. Its first director is 

Henry Van Peters Wilson, a University of 

North Carolina professor. 

13 
had been built at Beaufort, N.C., and Fishery and Fur Seal Service" was 

in 1905 the first Federal fish hatch­ upgraded to an operating Division 

ery in Alaska was set up at Yes Bay. in 1911. Then, in 1913, Congress 

separated the Departments of Labor 

Pacific coast fisheries and ocean­ and Commerce, with the Bureau of 

0graphic research had greatly ex­ Fisheries remaining with the Departpanded with entry of the Albatross ment of Commerce. 

into the Pacific and saw further 

growth in 1909 as a Pacific Fishery While the Bureau had long 

Investigations group was set up at worked to improve fishery marketing 

Stanford, Calif., under ichthyologist and product development, the onset 

Charles H. Gilbert. And as Alaska of World War I and associated food "McDonald jars" were used for hatching 

fishery research and management shortages accelerated those studies. shad, cod, and other fishes. 

progressed, the Bureau's "Alaska (Cant. on page 16.) 

1901 on May 26th. Though not yet complete, it and control over the fur seal of Alaska are Argentina. Losses are later reported as shipping case that holds 24 trays of fish 

Charles B. Wilson begins summer work provides alaboratory, aquarium, office, 12 assumed from the Department of the Trea- only 10% except for lake trout which be· eggs. Each tray can hold 192,000 lake 

at the Woods Hole Laboratory that culmi· bedrooms, storerooms, etc. sury. gan hatching en route. trout eggs. 

nates in publication of "The Copepods of 

the Woods Hole Region Massachusetts," 1903 David Starr Jordan is chosen to head 1905 The Sponge Act is passed as the first 

a standard reference in copepod biology. By Act of February 14th, the U.S. Fish acommittee appointed by President Theo· The first Federal hatchery in Alaska is es- assertion of Federal authority to manage 

Commission and the Office of the Com· dore Roosevelt to investigate the causes tablished on a lake at Yes Bay in south· marine fisheries. It set conservation rules 

The Commission employs a fish path· missioner of Fish and Fisheries are placed for the decline in the salmon fisheries of eastern Alaska. for taking sponges from the Gulf of Mexico 

ologist on a part·time basis. in the Department of Commerce and La· Alaska. and Straits of Florida. 

bor which is also created by the new Act. "In 1905, the fishing on New England 

1902 The transfers take place on July 1sl. The first salmon·marking experiments banks was revolutionized by the introduc· During a raid on the Pribilof Islands 

The American Fisheries Society places a are begun by Fred Chamberlain of the Bu· tion of the otter trawl ... [Which) met with a (Alaska) seal rookeries, five poachers are 

granite monument to Baird at the Woods The formerly independent Fish Com· reau of Fisheries in southeastern Alaska. great deal of opposition from many mem- killed by Bureau personnel acting in self· 

Hole Laboratory, where it remains today in mission is named the U.S. Bureau of Fish· bers of the industry."-Herbert W. Gra· defense, and a dozen others are jailed. 

a public park. eries. The new Bureau retains the scien- 1904 ham, writing in 1952. 

tific responsibilities of the Fish Commis- One million whitefish, 100,000 brook Irout, The Albatross sails on a lengthy 

The Nation's second Federal fisheries sion and incorporates other fishery·related 53,000 lake trout, and 50,000 landlocked 1906 research cruise to the Aleutian Islands, 

laboratory, in Beaufort, N.C., is occupied functions: i.e. jurisdiction, supervision, salmon eggs leave New York harbor for Bureau testing begins on a new wooden Japan, and Korea, making extensive bio14 
logical collections and discovering hundreds of new genera and species of fishes. 

The Captain, Lieutenant Commander 

LeRoy Mason Garrett, U.S. Navy, thrown 

from the vessel in a violent storm on the 

return trip, is lost at sea. 

1907 

Rachel Louise Carson is born on May 27th. 

The famed conservationist, author, marine 

biologist, and Bureau employee wrote "The 

Sea Around Us' (1951), "Silent Spring' 

(1962), and other books that heightened 

public environmental awareness. 

The Albatross leaves San Francisco for 

a 2l-> year cruise to Midway, Guam, Philippines, Borneo, Dutch East Indies, and 

Formosa. 

1907-08 

The second Federal hatchery in Alaska is 

built at Litnik Lake on Afognak Island, near 

the site selected in 1889 by Livingston 

Stone and on the reserve established earlier by Presidential proclamation. 

1908 

A. E. Verrill completes his study of the 

specimens collected during surveys that 

began at the Woods Hole Laboratory in 

1871. The project forms the basis of hundreds of scientific papers on invertebrates. 

The collection includes some 2,000 species 

taken trom 3,000 locations in New England 

and is eventually given to the Museum of 

Comparative Zoology at Harvard University 

with duplicates to the Peabody Museum of 

Yale University. 

In thanking the Bureau for its generous 

assistance, the Chief Inspector of Fisheries 

for New Zealand writes, "Formerly acountry devoid of fresh-water fish of any value, 

[our] rivers are teeming with fish of the finest quality for sport and food." 

1909 

Charles H. Gilbert, an associate of D. S. 

Jordan, is named scientist in charge of the 

Bureau's Pacific Fishery Investigations 

group which is based at Stanford University for the next 22 years as the agency's 

fisheries research hub for the Pacific 

coast and Alaska. 

1911 

On July 7th the United States, Great Britain (for Canada), Japan, and Russia conclude a convention for the protection of 

Division of the Bureau of Fisheries. 

The Albatross returns to San Francisco 

after a trip along the California coast in 

which six yearling elephant seals, thought 

to be extinct, are captured and sent to the 

New York Aquarium. 

One source of Atlantic cod eggs was the catch
 

of market fishermen. Here, a turn-of-lhe­


century spawntaker collects ripe eggs
 

on a commercial fishing vessel.
 

the North Pacific fur seals that had been 

virtually decimated by overhunting on the 

high seas. This provides a sound basis 

for managing the species. 

The Alaska Fishery and Fur Seal Service is separated from the Division of 

Scientific Inquiry and made an operating 

1912 

H. B. Bigelow begins 16 years of research 

on the oceanic fisheries in the Gulf of 

Maine. This fundamental work, along with 

extensive investigations with W. B. SChroeder, results in the 1953 treatise "Fishes of 

the Gulf of Maine," a standard reference 

in the field. 

The eruption of Alaska's Mount Katmai 

covers aBureau salmon hatchery with 

nearly a foot of volcanic ash. 

1913 

The Bureau of Fisheries publishes the 

results of a massive bottom sampling program operated out of Woods Hole, describing the distribution of about 250 animal 

and plant species at several hundred sampling stations. 

The Department of Labor is separated 

from the Department of Commerce, which 

retains the Bureau of Fisheries. 

A study on age determination of Pacific salmon is begun by Charles Gilbert, 

initially using the scales of fish collected 

from the Columbia and Fraser Rivers. 

1914 

A small office opens in Seattle's historic 

Smith Tower Building as an administrative 

center for the Bureau's Pacific coast operations. 

1915 

William F. Thompson, an early student of 

David Starr Jordan's, begins his study of 

the halibut fisheries of the North Pacific; 

later he will become the director of investigations for the International (Halibut) 

Fisheries Commission, the International 

Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission, 

and the Fisheries Research Institute of 

the University of Washington. This halibut 

research is the first scientific study made 

on the Pacific coast fishery that is aimed 

at fishery management. 

Congress approves the appointment of 

a full-time fish pathologist to the Bureau 

staff. 

1915-21 

The Albatross conducts research off Oregon, Washington, and California, including tuna studies off southern California 

and Baja California. However, during 

World War I, the Albatross is placed under 

U.S. Navy direction and patrols the Gulf of 

Mexico and Caribbean Sea region. 

1917 

The Albatross undergoes repairs for a 

November transfer to the U.S. Navy for 

the duration of WWI. It is returned to the 

Bureau in 1919. 

Research emphasis at the Woods Hole 

Laboratory changes from general interests 

to concentrate on the immediate increase 

of aquatic food supplies-a move precipitated by the onset of World War I. During 

this time, the Navy occupies the lab. 

Fire destroys the fisheries laboratory 

building at Fairport, Iowa, with total toss 

of a collection of rare scientific papers related to freshwater mussels. 

1918 

The U.S. Navy takes over the Bureau's 

Beaufort, N.C., fisheries laboratory in 

World War I to study the fouling of ship 

bottoms, and returns it to the Bureau in 

1920. 

Funding is approved for the first fishery 

products laboratory in Washington, D.C., 

to house rooms for drying, smoking, canning, and refrigerating of fish. An experimental kitchen is also built. 

The first of 125 nationwide cooking 

demonstrations begins in Seattte to show 

consumers the best and most economical 

ways of preparing and cooking fish. 

The Supreme Court confirms its prior 

opinion enjoining Alaska Pacific Fisheries 

"from maintaining, and compelling it to 

remove, a fish trap erected by it in Annette 

Island Waters, Alaska." 

1919 

The Bureau reports that, "In no branch of 

the fisheries is there greater need for exhaustive study than in the methods or 

preservation of fishery products." 

1920 

Jurisdiction over all land fur-bearing animals, except those of Alaska and the 

Pribilof Islands, is transferred from the 

Bureau of Fisheries (Commerce Depart15 
Bureau scientists at Woods Hole Depression and War Years: Research on oyster culture and 

and other research sites empha­ 1922-1946 the nutritive and vitamin content of 

sized the immediate increase of fish oils continued to advance, as 

aquatic food supplies. In addition, This was an important era with new did concern for Pacific salmon fishBureau research on the healthful challenges for the Bureau of Fisher­ eries. Congress passed the White 

and nutritive values of fish oils be­ ies, coming at the end of WWI and Act in 1924 in an effort to reduce 

gan during this era. Meanwhile, including the Depression years and the salmon catch with fish traps in 

the U.S. Navy commandeered the WWII. Now the Federal government Alaska; that new law also set "esAlbatross for WWI Gulf of Mexico was promoting commercial fishing capement levels" to allow enough 

and Caribbean Sea patrols and oc­ and wider use of fish as economic salmon to move upstream to spawn. 

cupied the Bureau's Woods Hole and health measures and to improve 

and Beaufort Laboratories for spe­ food production in a Nation under Research also began in the 

cialized war-related research. SIege. 1930's on ways to pass salmon 

safely around new dams and water 

men!) to the Agriculture Department. scientific research into as well as the Commission, begin on the Columbia River. flood control measures. the Alaska salmon fishery, It sets a 50% 

naming and cataloging of the many hun- Meanwhile, salmon studies by Charles Gil- escapement level for streams where fish 

Mussels reared in Iowa are success­ dreds of thousands of specimens it has bert begin in Bristol Bay and on Karluk 1923 could be counted or reliably estimated, 

fUlly planted along the Potomac River at collected will continue for decades. River and Karluk Lake in Alaska. Herbert F. Prytherch makes his first report giving the Commerce Secretary authority 

Harpers Ferry, W.V. on his work with artificial propagation of to limit catches and set seasons, but it 

For the first time, Bureau of Fisheries 1922 oysters, He works in facilities provided by does not allow the limitation of the amount 

Fire destroys the dining hall, kitchen, scientists begin research to determine fat Willis H. Rich, former student of David the Connecticut Oyster Farms Company of of gear in the fishery. 

and laundry room of the Woods Hole constants of fish oils at its Washington, Starr Jordan, becomes chief of the Milford, Conn. Increased interest in molLaboratory. D.C., laboratory. Such research would Bureau's Division of Scientific Inquiry. luscan culture for stock enhancement and N. A. Cobb begins to spend his sumcontinue during 1926-30 at a Reedville, He later heads the Pacific Fishery Investi­ direct sale eventually leads to establish­ mers working at the Woods Hole LaboraWith cooperation of the Naval Aviation Va., laboratory on menhaden oil manufac­ gations at the Bureau's Stanford station, ment of a full-scale research facility at tory. Cobb would become an internaService and Chesapeake Bay fishermen, ture. Later Bureau research wouid target and is Director of the Montlake Laboratory Milford which concentrates on pollution tional authority on nematodes, and his 

the Bureau inaugurates use of "aeroplanes' the vitamin content of fish oils and other in Seattle. effects on marine life and molluscan and outstanding contributions included using 

to locate menhaden. healthful and nutritional attributes of fish finfish aquaculture. these animals to study such biological 

oils. Over 180 million fish are rescued in the problems as heredity, phylogeny, adapta1921 Mississippi Valley and relocated from over­ 1924 tion, and parasitism. 

The Albatross is decommissioned and re- Pacific salmon studies by Willis H. ffow ponds and lakes. The practice is Congress passes the White Act in an eftired from service on OCtober 29th, but the Rich, in cooperation with the Oregon Fish abandoned in 1939 owing to improved fort to deal with the use of fish traps in Henry O'Malley, Bureau Commissioner 

16 
diversion projects on Pacific coast 

streams. And in 1930 the Sockeye 

Salmon Fisheries Convention was 

signed to address conflicts between 

U.S. and Canadian fishermen. 

Fish marketing and promotion 

efforts also increased in the 1930's. An early salmon trap in Alaska. 

and a member of the Halibut Commission, 

sends Ha~an Holmes to Seattle to find 

working space for the Bureau. Asmall staff 

of Bureau employees work at the University 

of Washington's Fisheries Hall Number 4 

until construction of the Montlake Labora· 

tory is completed in 1931. 

1925 

Paul S. Galtsoff begins his lifelong work 

with the Bureau on the American oyster 

which culminates in the extensive classic 

"The American Oyster,' published by the 

agency in 1952. 

1926 

The Bureau's steamer Fish Hawk is decom· 

missioned. Shortly after, the Navy's ocean 

tug Patuxent is renamed the Albatross /I 

and outfitted for Bureau research. 

Pacific salmon studies are conducted 

in Chignik, Alaska, under the leadership 

of Ha~an Holmes, while herring studies 

in southeastern Alaska and Prince William 

Sound begin under George Rounsefell. 

1927 

Elmer Higgins, former student of David 

Starr Jordan, becomes chief of the 

Bureau's Division of Scientific Inquiry. 

1928 

The Bureau begins studying problems and 

methods of fish passage at various water 

diversion projects along the Pacific coast. 

1929 

O. E. Sette becomes director of the Woods 

Hole Laboratory and begins his pioneering 

work tagging and reporting on the school· 

ing of mackerel. 

New investigations begin on the sock· 

eye salmon in Bristol Bay under Alan Taft 

and on the Copper River under Seton 

Thompson. Investigations on the pink 

salmon of southeastern Alaska begin 

under Fred Davidson. 

Enforcement of Pacific salmon regUlations is emphasized, and the Bureau em· 

ploys 228 agents using 24 vessels and the 

Bureau's first airplane. 

Planting of oak brush in Georgia's lower 

Duplin River proves successfui for collecting oyster spat. 

1930 

The Sockeye Salmon Fisheries Convention 

is signed to address conflicts between 

U.S. and Canadian fishermen in Puget 

Sound and the Strait of Georgia, where 

they compete for sockeye salmon bound 

for the Fraser River in B.C. Despite the 

Convention, questions remain unresolv· 

ed, including the role of the Commission 

in regulation of the fishery, the division of 

catch between the fishermen of the two 

countries, and the agencies responsible 

for investigations. Bureau studies of the 

fishery would begin in 1931. 

Although law enforcement work has 

long been a part of many U.S. Fish Commission and Bureau activities, an official 

"Division of Law Enforcement" is not set 

up until this year. 

On May 21 st, the Preservation of Fish· 

ery Resources Act (Mitchell Act) is passed 

to provide for the conservation of the fish· 

ery resources of the Columbia River. 

Anew Act (H.R. 7405) is approved, 

authorizing construction of more than 25 

Bureau fish culture stations, three new 

laboratories, and two fish distribution rail· 

road cars over the next 5 years. 

1931 

Victor Loosanoff is hired by Woods Hole 

Laboratory director Paul Galtsoff to con· 

duct oyster research at Milford, Conn. 

Loosanoff, like Galtsoff, would eventually 

become a world·class expert on oyster 

culture. 

Rachel Carson is hired by the Bureau's 

Chesapeake Bay Investigations Division 

as a biologist. 

Biologist William C. Herrington begins 

his haddock studies in the Gulf of Maine, 

incorporating both fishery dependent and 

independent information. This work is the 

foundation for the long time·series of in· 

formation on haddock response to fishing 

effort in this highly productive region. 

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti· 

tution (WHOI) is established with H. B. 

Bigelow as its first director. 

The Bureau's Montlake Laboratory 

opens on May 22nd in Seattle. Present 

at the Open House are Henry O'Malley 01 

the Bureau; Miller Freeman, editor of the 

Pacific Fisherman; and U.S. Senator 

Wesley Jones, author of the Jones Act; as 

well as local Bureau staff members and 

International Fisheries Commission (com· 

monly known as the Halibut Commission) 

staff. A 1931 report by O'Malley states: 

"... Personnel and equipment of the 

Stanford field station were transferred to 

the new Fisheries Biological Laboratory in 

Seattle, along with all of the Bureau's Pa· 

cific biological investigations dealing with 

Pacific coast fishery problems, except 

shellfish and the cooperative work on Cali· 

fornia trout." 

The Halibut Commission moves to the 

Montlake facility in July. 

A study of the biology of Puget Sound 

runs of sockeye salmon begins under the 

direct supervision of Montlake Laboratory 

director Joseph Craig. 

A small, short·term Rogue River steel· 

head trout tagging operation is started in 

the winter of 1930-31 and completed in 

1931. 

An extensive herring tagging program 

begins in southeastern Alaska using the 

new metal "belly" tag which can be recov· 

ered by a magnetic detection system on 

the conveyer belts at processing plants. 

Ed Dahlgren's ideas led to the develop· 

ment of this tag, and he also devised and 

developed the electronic and magnetic 

systems for recovering the tagged herring 

or the tags as they passed through the 

reduction plant. 

More than 4,100 flounder are tagged 

and released during an investigation into 

their migratory patterns near the Woods 

Hole Laboratory. 

1932 

The Bureau's long-sought experimental 

station for fish disease research is set up 

at Leetown, West Virginia. 

1933 

A cooperative project between the Bureau, 

Cornell University, and the State of New 

York results in an experimental laboratory 

for fish nutrition research at Cortland, N.Y. 

The Bureau's Beaufort Laboratory is 

17 
A new fishery market news service 

was set up, including publication of 

a monthly Fishery Market News 

journal. In addition, the growing 

role of law enforcement led to creation of a "Division of Law Enforcement" in 1930. Another major west 

coast Bureau facility, the Montlake 

Laboratory, opened in Seattle in 

1931, and in 1934 the Columbia 

River Investigations Program was 

initiated to study salmon problems 

associated within the region's water 

developments. 

Researcher 

in the U.S. 

Bureau of 

Fisheries 

Laboratory, 

Washington 

D.C.,1930. 

seriously damaged by a hurricane on 

September 16th; later, the Public Works 

Administration provides funds to hire workers and restore buildings and equipment. 

Lauren Davidson is appointed Montlake 

Laboratory director and focuses on statistical analysis of fisheries research. He hires 

a statistical analyst, and, at about the 

same time, the Halibut Commission begins 

to apply Baranof's theory of fishing to the 

regUlatory problems of the halibut fishery. 

The Alaska Territorial Civif Works Administrator is authorized to furnish the 

Bureau with 198 unskilled laborers to 

improve salmon spawning streams in 

southeast Alaska. 

1934 

Temporary field facilities for pink salmon 

survival studies are buill on Sashin Creek 

near the Little Port Walter Field Station in 

southeastern Alaska. They include the 

weir cabin, built in Seattle, barged to 

Alaska, and still in use in 1995. 

The Columbia River Investigations program begins at the Montlake Laboratory 

and is closely associated with the wateruse development program for the Columbia River basin. An eaMy and major part 

of the program is acomprehensive survey 

of all accessible salmon streams in the 

Columbia system. 

Bureau coho salmon researchers in 

Puget Sound, Wash., study the relation· 

ship between the release time of young 

salmon from the hatcheries and the ultimate number of returns of adulls. 

On March 10th, Public Law 732 is 

enacted to provide for the mitigation of 

losses to fish and wildlife caused by 

Federal government construction. 

1935 

The Bureau begins large-scale tagging 

experiments on white shrimp, and Peterson disc tags are used to determine 

growth rates and alongshore movements. 

Later, scientists would use biological 

stains and numbered inlernal plastic tags 

to mark the shrimp. 

Initiative 77 is passed by the Washington State Legislature to eliminate all fixed 

fishing gear (I.e. traps and set nels) from 

state waters and divide the Puget Sound 

fishing area into an inner area for gill nets 

and an outer area for all remaining legal 

gear. 

Rachel Carson is recruited by Henry 

Higgins, head of the Bureau's Division of 

SCientific Inquiry, to write scripts for some 

Bureau radio broadcasts on marine life. 

She would serve with the Bureau until 

1952. 

1936 

The Sockeye Salmon Fisheries Convention between the U.S. and Canada is ratified by the U.S. Senate; ratification documents are exchanged between the coun· 

tries in 1937. 

Frederick F. Fish, stationed at the 

Bureau's Leetown, W.v., hatchery, reports 

that an epidemic of blue sac is causing 

heavy losses among the brook and brown 

trout fry. 

1937 

By Congressional mandate, the Bureau 

establishes the South Pacific Investiga· 

tions Program at Stanford University to 

study the decfine in the California sardine 

fishery. This program is the foundation 

of the California Cooperative Sardine 

Research Program which would later 

become the California Cooperative OCe· 

18 
By the late 1930's problems in 

the large California sardine industry 

led to establishment of the Bureau's 

California Current Resources Laboratory (CCRL) to study regional 

fishery problems. Also, just before 

the War, Congress appropriated 

$100,000 for a I-year study of the 

Alaska king crab, setting the stage 

for what would, after the war, become another important national 

fishery. The researchers also found A BCF display illustrates the population changes 

in anchovies and sardines as recorded by its 

enormous, latent reserves of sole California Current Resources Laboratory Research helped assess the fishery potential 

between 1950 and 1965. of Alaska's king crab resource. and pollock off Alaska. 

anic Fisheries Investigations (CaICOFI) nid research programs. W. F. Thompson salmon and the environmental factors On April 3rd, the Commerce Depart- suits in a 10% recovery of 964 metalprogram. is Director of investigations. affecting their survival. The other part ment's Bureau of Fisheries and the Agri- tagged sardines recovered by magnets. 

studies the ocean life history of salmon culture Department's Bureau of Biological 

California Current Resources Labora- 1938 and is done in close cooperation with the Survey are transferred to the U.S. Depart- 1940 

tory (CCRL), one of the forerunners of Ahurricane and its accompanying storm U.S. Coast Guard using the culler Red- ment of Interior as part of the 1939 Presi- The 1940 Reorganization Plan No. III, 

today's Southwest Fisheries Science wave demolish many of the Woods Hole wing. The studies end in 1941 with the dential Reorganization Plan No. II. effective June 30th, merges the Bureau 

Center, is established at Stanford Univer- Laboratory facilities, but equipment and outbreak of WWII and Japan's invasion of Fisheries and the Biological Survey as 

sity in Palo Alto, Calif., with O. E. Selle boats are relatively unscathed. of the Aleutian Islands. Harlan Holmes, an expert on fish pas- part 01 the Interior Department's Fish and 

as Director. sage, becomes Biologist-in-charge of the Wildlife Service; in addition, it provides 

An expansion of the Alaska fishery re- Congress authorizes $25,000 to es- new Hydraulic Engineering Section at the for the establishment of five regional fishThe U.S. Congress appropriates funds search program at the Seallie Montlake tablish a fishery laboratory at lillie Port Montlake Laboratory. The section is to eries offices. The Bureau of Fisheries 

for a Fishery Markel News Service in the Laboratory begins with a large, compre- Walter, Alaska. review all Federal power permit applica- and Biological Survey groups would be 

Bureau of Fisheries. hensive two-part program of study on the lions and develop, design, and restore separated again in 1956 as the renamed 

salmon runs in the Bristol Bay area of the 1939 needed fish-passage structures and de- Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and the 

A U.S.-Canada treaty sets up the Bering Sea. Afield station and experi- The Bureau's monthly publication Fishery vices including fish screens on the Co- Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. 

International Pacific Salmon Fisheries mental area are established on Brooks Market News begins in January as 'a lumbia River. 

Commission to manage those regional River. One part studies the freshwater review of conditions and trends of the The Little Port Walter Station opens, 

fisheries and coordinate extensive salmo- life history of the Bristol Bay sockeye commercial fisheries." The first trial marking of sardines re- and as of 1995 is the longest continu19 
Fundamental reorganization agency's research aided crucial pro­ peaceful use of irradiation to precame to the agency in 1939: The duction of foodstuffs and other serve seafood. 

Commerce Department's Bureau critical national defense missions 

of Fisheries and the Agriculture and operations. Federal fisheries 

Department's Bureau of Biological laboratories turned their studies to The World War II era marked 

Survey were transferred to the De­ ways of supplying growing needs another type of milestone for the 

partment of Interior. A year later for protein, often from unusual U.S. and global fisheries. Whereas 

the fishery and wildlife units of forms of marine life, including a few nations had begun moving 

both Bureaus were merged as "divi­ sharks, sea lions, and other crea­ into international waters to fish 

sions" within Interior's new "Fish tures of the sea. And with the onset before the war, that fishing effort 

and Wildlife Service." of the nuclear age, agency scientists mushroomed once the war ended. 

helped make new assessments of the Increased fishing by European and 

Likewise, during World War II environmental effects of radiation Asian vessels and factory ships just 

(and also the Korean War), the and began pioneering studies of the off U.S. coasts posed a challenge for 

ously operating fisheries research facility moves to Kodiak in 1971. paper warns of the dangers caused by Harbor is bombed. She continues her Samuel F. Hildebrand moves to the 

in Alaska. a developing market in baby haddock, Federal service as an aquatic biologist un- Smithsonian Institution's National MuA fisheries utilization laboratory oper­ a situation not unlike that caused by fish til 1946 when she would become an infor­ seum to continue his fish systematics and 

Between 1872 and 1940, the Fish ates for a few years in Mayaguez, Puerto discards in the present era. Herrington mation specialist and, later, editor-in-chief taxonomy work for the agency. This is 

Commission/Bureau plants and distributes Rico, during the 1940's. maps out the likely results of removing of the Information Division of the Fish and the beginning of today's NMFS National 

200 billion fish and other aquatic animals large numbers of young fish with such Wildlife Service. Systematics Laboratory, part of the 

in national and international waters. 1941 precision that the description resonates NEFSC. 

The Woods Hole Laboratory buildings are in today's northwest Atlantic haddock The first permanent research station at 

The U.S. Congress appropriates occupied by the U.S. Navy until the spring fishery. Milford, Conn., is built. After working out A 108-page supplement to the May 

$100,000 for a 1-year study of the poten­ of 1944. Limited scientific work continues of a building donated and moved across issue of the Fishery Market News reviews 

tial of an Alaska king crab fishery. The in space borrowed from the Marine Bio- On October 23rd Japan terminates the hartlor by a local oyster company, Ihe "The Alaska King Crab," noting that 

report is favorable and provides many logical Laboratory. the international fur seal convention, but slaff gets a real scientific laboratory. Alaska walers hold "... an enormous redala on harvest areas, fishing gear, pres- protection for the Pribilof herd is arranged serve of edible fish-notably 'sole' and 

ervation, canning, and the fishery poten- William C. Herrington publishes his by a provisional agreement between 1942 pollock-which is al present wholly 

tial. Circular entitled "A crisis in the haddock Canada and the United States. "Fish for war is the present aim of the fish­ unutilized." 

fishery" based on 10 years of sampling ery biological investigations of the [Fish 

The Bureau's Alaska Technological and biological work conducted in coop- Rachel Carson's first book, "Under the and Wildlife] Service," slates lhe Depart­ "In every major war foughl by the 

Laboratory is set up in Ketchikan; it eration with the fishing industry. The Sea Wind," is pUblished just before Pearl menl's Annual Report. United States, the fishing fleet has 

20 
scientists, commercial fishermen, 

and diplomats as well. It was an 

entirely new era that, 25-30 years 

later, would result in new Federal 

laws, particularly the Magnuson 

Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MFCMA) of 1976, to 

protect U.S. fishery interests and 

resources. But until then, it required far more research into the 

species fished and potential fishery 

problems. 

From the June 1943 cover of 

Fishery Market News. 

formed a second line of naval defense, 

fishing boats and fishermen being employed in various capacities-for patrol, as 

mine sweepers, in supplying protein food 

to the armed forces and the civilian population."-eharles E. Jackson. 

1943 

During World War II, the agency's 

Ketchikan Laboratory is asked to investigate potential emergency sources of marine foods in case military activities in 

Alaska cause food shortages. It studies 

various sharks and the Steller sea lion, 

as well as groundfish and shellfish. 

1944 

A second hurricane ravages Woods Hole, 

destroying the docks, part of the seawall, 

and much of the roofs, windows, porches, 

and outer skins of the laboratory buildings. 

The War Food Administration frees 

sperm whale oil from restricted civilian 

use, allowing it to be used for grinding 

oils, carbon paper, mimeograph inks, 

typewriter ribbon, etc. 

The War Manpower Commission emphasizes the need "for encouraging employees to adapt more fishing jobs to the 

employment of women ... women can do 

much of the work in fish processing plants 

that formerly was considered for men 

only." 

At the close of the war, President Harry S Truman issued a proclamation asserting U.S. jurisdiction 

"... over the natural resources of 

the continental shelf under the high 

seas contiguous to the coasts of the 

United States and its territories, and 

providing for the establishment of 

conservation zones for the protection of fisheries in certain areas of 

the high seas contiguous to the 

United States." 

Selective Service State Directors are 

given aulhority to recommend draft exemptions for 18-25-year-old captains of 

fishing vessels of 20+ gross Ions. 

Of the 600 fishing boats requisitioned 

for emergency use by the U.S. Army, 

Navy, and Coast Guard, 142 are released 

10 the War Shipping Administration by the 

military; 13 are returned to their original 

owners. 

The dogfish shark, once considered a 

pest, becomes the nation's chief source of 

vitamin A. 

1945 

President Harry S Truman issues a proclamation asserting U.S. jurisdiction "... over 

Ihe natural resources of the continental 

shelf under the high seas contiguous to 

the coasts of the United States and its 

territories, and providing for the establishment of conservation zones for the protection of fisheries in certain areas of the 

high seas contiguous to the United States." 

The September issue of the agency's 

Fishery Market News publishes a warning 

to the fishing industry about a new pesticide: "In spite of its apparent usefulness 

in improving sanitary conditions in such 

[fishing industry] plants, DDT may have 

undesirable and even dangerous effects 

unless its use is properly controlled...." 

Rachel Carson would later draw on such 

early Federal research in writing her 

acclaimed volume "Silent Spring." 

Lionel Walford becomes Director of Re· 

search and reorganizes the entire fisheries 

research program. 

A study on the population dynamics of 

salmon spawning in the tributaries of the 

Columbia River begins with funding by the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

1946 

Operation Crossroads, the nuclear testing 

at Bikini Atoll, begins, and Woods Hole 

Laboratory oyster expert Paul S. GaltsoH 

is an invited scientist on the project. 

21 
Progress and Change: 

1947-1971 

The late 1940's and 1950's 

brought additional programs, 

studies, and progress to the Federal fisheries agency. Many new 

fishing grounds were discovered, 

and better ways were found to 

fish them. Healthful benefits of 

fish oils continued to be discovered, as were pitfalls with such 

pesticides as DDT-for example, 

their toxicity to fish and other 

aquatic life, particularly during 

early stages of life. 

But perhaps the most important 

facet was international: Fisheries 

were fast becoming globalized. The 

United Nations was set up in 1945, 

as was its Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Foreign fishermen found that they could use huge 

factory trawlers in "international 

waters" just 3 miles from U.S. coastlines, and two new international 

fisheries commissions were soon 

organized: the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic 

Fisheries (ICNAF) and the InterAmerican Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC). These new developments brought added responsibilities for enforcement. 

In addition, U.S. fishermen 

opened their own distant-water 

Pacific fisheries, targeting tuna, 

and the 80th Congress, in 1947, 

declared a policy of developing and 

maintaining the enormous fishery 

1947 The 80th Congress declares the policy The Columbia River Fishery DevelopRebuilding aher the hurricane at Woods of developing and maintaining the enor­ ment Program begins. 

Hole begins, and a small number of inves· mous and untapped high·seas fisheries 

tigations resume. resources of the tropical and subtropical The final draft is made of the convenPacific territories. Public Law 329 leads tion forming the International Commission 

A new fisheries technological labora­ to the formation of the Pacific Oceanic for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries 

tory is set up in Boston; it would move to Fishery Investigations (POFI) unit and (ICNAF) which will govern fishing in intera new bUilding in Gloucester, Mass., in the construction of the agency's Honolulu national waters of the North Atlantic until 

1959. Laboratory. the middle 1970's. 

While progress in establishing conser· 1948 1949 

vation zones in the Pacific and other wa· The Albatross III, formerly a steam trawler The California Cooperative Oceanic 

ters to protect salmon and other fisheries in the New England groundfishery, is com· Fisheries Investigations (CaICOFlj, a 

is temporarily suspended, the State De­ missioned in ceremonies at the Boston consortium of industry, university, state, 

partment advises of its 'Firm intention to Fish Pier. and Federal agencies, is established to 

resume attention to this highly important investigate causes of the collapse of the 

matter at the earliest possible opportunity." The Boston Technological Laboratory in· Pacific coast sardine fishery. 

itiates a major study of freezing tish at sea. 

22 
resources of the tropical and subtropical Pacific Territories. Thus, 

the Bureau's Pacific Oceanic Fishery 

Investigations unit (POFI) was set up 

at Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, to 

explore, investigate, and develop 

those high-seas fisheries. 

ESh promotion and "home extension" type work brought the Bureau added recognition, as its staff 

home economists created thousands 

of new fish recipes, put on countless 

fish cookery demonstrations, and 

helped large food service groups 

(schools, hospitals, military units, 

etc.) learn to use fish. Other technological research initiatives ineluded a major study on freezing 

fish at sea, work on the still untapped walleye pollock in the Bering 

Sea, and a new technological research laboratory set up in Boston. 

New mobile research laboratories, devised for special on-site 

investigations, were deployed from 

Above, a Bureau home economist demonstrating ways to prepare fish. Below, a slide show 

emphasized the work done by Bureau home 

economists on radio and television. 

TV· RADIO inrerwew.r
 

Rachel Carson, now chief editor of treaty organization, is set up on July 3rd Columbia River research is focused 

Fish and Wildlife Service publications to study and report on fisheries activities almost exclusively on problems of fish 

(FWS), and Marie Rodell become the first and fish stocks in more than two miliion passage at dams, especially in the diverwomen to spend more than a few hours square miles of ocean outside the territo­ sion 01 downstream migrants away from 

aboard a U.S. fisheries research vessel. riai waters of the nations rimming the turbine intakes and other sources of morThey report on a 10-day cruise to northwest Atlantic. Research activities for tality. 

Georges Bank. areas of U.S. interest are largely headquartered at the Woods Hole Laboratory. Asixth regionai fisheries office is esDelegate E. L. Bartlett of Alaska intro­ tablished in Alaska to facilitate administraduces a bill in Congress to provide for the The Tuna Conventions Act of 1950 is tion of the Territory's fisheries. 

gradual reduction and ultimate elimination passed to enforce international agreeof salmon traps in Alaska waters; a Depart­ ments on fishing rights, fishery manage­ The John N. Cobb is commissioned 

ment of Fisheries is created by Alaska's ment, and preservation. with a public open house at Seattle, Wash. 

Territorial Legislature. 

The CCRL establishes a field station A field station at Pascagoula, Miss., is 

1950 at Pt. Loma in San Diego, Calif., for established for fishing and gear research 

The International Commission for the CalCOFI ichthyoplankton work. and to catalog marine fauna of southeastNorthwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF), a ern regional waters. 

'n)·:~

23 
the College Park, Md.; Boston; and 

Seattle Technological Laboratories. 

Also in 1950, the agency's Pascagoula, Miss., field station was set up 

for Gulf fishing and gear research. 

Studies located new brown and pink 

shrimp fishing grounds, discovered 

a new royal red shrimp fishery, and 

helped establish a longline fishery 

for tuna and swordfish in the Gulf. 

Meanwhile, Federal fishery research in the northwest Atlantic in 

1951 found commercial quantities 

of tunas, leading to a new and 

growing east coast tuna industry. 

On the opposite coast, the Columbia 

River Fishery Development Program 

began, concentrating on fish passage problems at the river's large 

hydroelectric dams. 

The middle 1950's was another period of progress and 

change. On the east coast, a British 

vessel, the Fairfry, became the first 

of the large foreign factory trawlers 

to fish in then international waters 

on the Grand Banks in 1954. Its 

success brought many other highvolume fishing vessels that spurred 

later declarations of ZOO-mile zones 

by northwest Atlantic nations. 

That same year, the SaltonstallKennedy Act was passed. Under this 

law, money was earmarked for fishery-product and market research; 

fisheries development, including 

development and implementation of 

voluntary grade standards for fishSignificant benefits from early Gulf of 1952 Preliminary explorations for salmon in 

Mexico exploratory research surveys in­ An oceanographer with the Honolulu Labo­ the offshore waters of the Aleutian Islands 

clude extension of the brown and pink ratory, Townsend Cromwell, discovers a are made by the John N. Cobb, mainly to 

shrimp grounds, discovery of a royal red major new ocean current, now named after develop techniques for fishing salmon with 

shrimp fishery, and establishment of a him, in the tropical Pacific. It is about 3,000 gill nets on the high seas. 

longline fishery for tuna and swordfish. miles long and carries more than 1,000 

times the volume of the Mississippi River. The International Convention lor the 

The RV Oregon becomes the first High Seas Fisheries of the North Pacific 

research vessel designed for exploration The first iCNAF meeting is held at Ocean establishes the International North 

of marine fauna of southeastern waters; Woods Hole, Mass. Pacific Fisheries Commission (INPFC). 

it pioneers marine research in the Gulf of 

Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and tropical 1953 1954 

National Tuna Week, November 5-14, Hurricane Carol strikes Woods Hole and 

celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the destroys much of the laboratory and its 

western Atlantic. 

tuna canning industry. In 1903, the entire environs, the saltwater pipes and pumps, 

Tuna investigations begin in the north1951 

U.S. tuna industry consisted of one can­ and closes the public aquarium lor sevwest Atlantic, leading to a new and grow­ nery in San Pedro, Calif., supplied by a eral years. 

ing east coast tuna industry. few boats fishing nearby waters. 

24 
ery products; and other fisheries initiated. Continuing talks with Service-the Bureau of Sport Fishresearch. Japan led to an agreement in 1958 eries and Wildlife and the Bureau 

that Japan would abstain from of Commercial Fisheries (BCF) , the 

Protection of North America's catching salmon in the North Pacific latter with an Office of the DirecPacific salmon from foreign fishing east of long. 175°W; research con­ tor, an Office of Loans and Grants, 

on the high seas became increas­ tinued to determine the proper and four Divisions: Administration, 

ingly critical, particularly since dividing line to separate stocks of Biological Research, Industrial Relittle was known of the salmon's Asian and North American salmon. search and Services, and Resource 

ocean travels. A major study of Management. Thus, the BCF was 

salmon distribution in the eastern reformed with most of the types of 

North Pacific Ocean began in 1955, In yet another major reorgani­ units and duties of the original Fish 

and within 5 years their general zation, the Fish and Wildlife Act of Commission and Bureau of Fisherdistribution was firmly established 1956 reestablished two Bureaus ies, except for freshwater fish culand vital protective measures were within a new u.s. Fish and Wildlife ture and sport fish research. 

Extensive population studies of sea Program begins at the Woods Hole established by 1961. assigned to the BSFW, along with most 1957 

scallops are begun by J. A. Posgay. Oceanographic Institution; it later will be freshwater fish hatcheries. The Act also Scripps Tuna Oceanography Research 

transferred to the NMFS Southeast Fisher- The first coastwide samples from the declares a National Fishery Policy recog­ (STOR), composed of Scripps Institution 

The British factory trawler Fairtry first ies Science Center. Atlantic menhaden reduction fishery are nizing the Nation's fish, shellfish, and of Oceanography (SIO) oceanographers 

appears in international waters on the acquired; sampling is continuous during wildlife as a valuable renewable natural and largely supported by BCF, is estabGrand Banks, ushering in the era of 1955 the next 40 years. resource. lished in La Jolla, Calif. 

high-tech, high-volume fishing vessels Congress appropriates money to rebuild 

that playa major role in declarations of the hurricane·damaged Woods Hole Labo­ 1956 All biological research associated with Following full reorganization of the 

200-mile Exclusive Economic lones ratory. The new Fish and Wildlife Act creates the the Alaska finfish fisheries (except that USFWS early in the year, Donald L. 

(EEl's) by nations of the northwest Atlantic. United States Fish and Wildlife Service being performed for the International McKernan is designated Director of the 

The first survey to determine the distri­ (USFWS), including two Bureaus: the Bu- North Pacific Fisheries Commission) is new BCF. The Bureau now has a headThe 83rd Congress passes Public Law bution of salmon in the eastern North Pa­ reau of Commercial Fisheries (BCF), the transferred from the Montlake Laboratory quarters and five regional organizations 

466, popularfy known as the Saltonstall­ cific Ocean is made in the spring by the descendant of the original U.S. Fish Com­ in Seattle to Juneau. including 80 field installations, plus the 

Kennedy (S-I<) Act, which sets aside funds John N. Cobb, and is followed later this mission, and the Bureau of Sport Fisher- Pacific Ocean Fishery Investigations offor fishery-product and market research, year by similar cruises with two chartered ies and Wildlife (BSFW). Federal respon- From 1956 through 1964, the Montlake fice in Hawaii. 

fisheries development, and other research. halibut schooners, the Mitkov and the sibility for pinnipeds and cetaceans is Laboratory studies and defines the biolParagon. The general distribution of given to the BCF, while responsibility for ogy and populations of king crab in the On February 9th a new interim North 

The Cooperative Game Fish Tagging North Pacific Ocean salmon will be firmly sea olters, manatees, and walruses is eastern Bering Sea. Pacific Fur Seal Convention is concluded 

25 
The new Fish and Wildlife Act BCF work in the late 1950's iden­ the northern fur seals and a new 

specifically charged the BCF with tified new tuna fishing grounds in protocol to further protect sockeye 

helping the U.S. fishing industry by the northwest Atlantic, led to more salmon of the Fraser River were also 

locating new fishing grounds, pro­ efficient two-trawl rigs for the Gulf concluded. 

moting trade and marketing fish, shrimping industry, and found new 

developing new foods and products fishing grounds for Pacific ocean Finally, in 1959, the Bureau's 

from fish, assisting with new fishing perch off Alaska and for shrimp off long-term management of Alaska's 

technologies and vessel financing, the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. territorial fisheries ended as the 

and more. The Fisheries Loan Fund, new State of Alaska assumed that 

for example, created in 1956, was On the international level, the responsibility. BCF research and 

increased in 1958 from $ I0 million first U.N. Conference on the Law of law enforcement activities, however, 

to $20 million. the Sea was held in Geneva in early continued, as did its protection and 

1958. And for the United States, a management of the northern fur 

new interim convention to protect seal. 

by Canada, Japan, the USSR, and the of Gulf of Mexico shrimpers have con- cruises by the John N, Cobb are fished that the growth rate of this species is ex- frozen fishery products by many months, 

United States similar to the 1911 Conven­ verted from single-trawl to the more effi­ commercially and landed. tremely slow, less than one-sixth inch in Bureau technologists publish a compretion. Japan had withdrawn from the 1911 cienttwo-trawl rigs. 9 months. hensive five-part manual on handling, proconvention in 1941. BCF assumes the administration of the cessing, freezing, storing, and distributing 

A new protocol to the U.S.-Canada Columbia River Fishery Development Pro- BCF research shows that the yield of fresh-frozen and precooked and frozen 

The Bureau's new Fisheries Loan Sockeye Salmon Convention of 1930 be- gram which had begun in 1948. Construe- sea scallops in the North Atlantic can be fishery products, the only authoritative 

Program begins operation late in the comes effective in July, extending the tion begins on three new salmonid hatch- materially increased by regulating the reference on all phases of the frozen fishyear, initially with assistance from the same type of protection to the pink salmon eries and two major fishways. Program sizes of the rings used in the scallop ery product industry. 

Small Business Administration. fisheries of the Fraser River system as that hatcheries release 65 million salmon and dredges. 

provided the Fraser's sockeye salmon steelhead lroul. Bureau home economists develop a 

BCF exploratory longline fishing in the runs. New markets are found for Lake Erie thorough series of fish and shellfish reciNorth Atlantic reveals several species of Exploratory research in the central, rough-fish, as the pet-food and mink-food pes for use by the Food Service Division 

tunas in an area north of their previously Bureau exploratory fishing operations eastern, and northern Pacific reveals that industries take nearly the entire catch of of the Army and Air Force and by the 

known winter ranges and within 15 hours' off Alaska locate new Pacific ocean perch Japanese and American fishermen are freshwater sheepshead. Quartermaster Food and Container Instisailing time of Massachusetts' Nantucket and shrimp resources. exploiting the same stocks of albacore. tute of the Armed Forces. 

Lightship. Bureau research conclusively shows 

For the first time, shrimp discovered Successful redfish tagging at Eastport, that improved processing and packaging With fishing industry help, the Bureau 

By the end of the year, a large number off Washington in eariier BCF research Maine, provides the first direct evidence techniques can extend the storage life of organizes a safety program to reduce the 

26 
By 1960, the Bureau's original Woods Hole Laboratory moved 

into new buildings. The original 

structure, occupied in 1885, had 

served for nearly 75 years. The 

early 1960's also saw new research 

laboratories opened at La Jolla, Calif.; Sandy Hook, N.J.; and Milford, 

Conn. Meanwhile the number of 

fisheries attaches posted overseas 

increased to three, and the foreign 

fishery reporting program received 

regular fishery reports from about 

Construction of the Bureau's new Woods Hole facility began 

in 1958. The original facility was completed in 1885. 90 U.S. embassies and consulates. 

number of accidents on fishing vessels.	 Annapolis, Md., to Oxford, Md., to be bet· study is initiated on the relationship of Geneva during February-May, with 86 culation changes over the North Pacific 

ter sited to study "MSX," the disease fish oils to circulatory diseases. nations participating. The U.S. delega- for a 32-year period (1926-57) and studThe Bureau begins participation in the which has decimated Chesapeake Bay tion uses background documents on U.S. ies their effects on sea temperatures, upinternational Geophysical Year (IGY) op- oyster beds. Congress passes the Alaska Statehood and world fisheries during the delibera- welling, and fish populations. 

erations as its Pacific OCeanic Fishery Act, and the new state will eventually be tions. For the first time, broad agreement 

Investigations unit occupies an oceano- A new laboratory is established in responsible for its fish and wildlife re- is reached on a system of rules to guide A new fleet headquarters opens at 

graphic station off Oahu, Hawaii. Pascagoula, Miss., for regionat fisheries sources. nations toward preserving marine spe- Kewalo Basin for the 10-year-old Honolulu 

utilization research.	 cies. A fishery attache post is established Biological Laboratory. 

The Bureau's Honolulu Biological Japan agrees, under terms of the in Tokyo in conjunction with the State DeLaboratory initiates a program to study AJuly article in the Bureau's Cammer- North Pacific Fisheries Convention, to ab- partment Foreign Service Program. Research begins in Honolulu on the 

tuna behavior in their natural environment. cial Fisheries Review by Charles Butler, stain from salmon fishing on the high seas use of paper chromatography to identify 

entitled "Nutritional value of fish in refer-	 of the North Pacific east of long. 175'W Research shows that red salmon of the adult tunas and tuna larvae. Bureau sci1958 ence to atherosclerosis and current di- while research continues to determine the North American type appears to predomi- entists continue their IGY participation by 

Construction of a new Woods Hole labo- etary research," notes the early interest in proper line to divide Asian and North nate in the North Pacific as far west as studying the Pacific Equatorial Undercurratory begins with demolition of the old heart disease and the eating of fatty American salmon stocks equitably. long. 175'E. rent (Cromwell Current), a newly discovbuildings. foods, and discusses the implications of ered easterly flow beneath the Equator of 

current knowledge of atherosclerosis as The first United Nations Conference The Bureau's Biological Laboratory at about 30,000,000 m'/second.
 

The Bureau moves its laboratory in applied to the marlketing of fish. An S-K on the Law of the Sea convenes in Stanford, Calif., obtains indices of air cir·
 

27 
The 1960's also ushered in an ration and maintenance of runs on 

even more aggressive era of foreign the Columbia and other western 

factory trawler fishing near u.s. rivers, and also moved into salmon 

coasts. However, cooperative re­ ranching and net pen culture studsearch between Bureau scientists ies, the latter now an important 

and those of other nations to assess source of fresh salmon. 

the fisheries and identify potential (Cant. on page 36.) 

problems and solutions also grew. 

Salmon culture and research, Salmon propagation 

early mainstays of the Fish Commis­ from two centuries: 

Above, Atkin's method of 

sion and Bureau of Fisheries, re­ penning salmon, in Maine, 

mained from about the late 1870's. Below, important, but for different 

salmon-rearing pens in Puget Sound, 

reasons: emphasis swung to resto- Wash., in the 1970's. 

The Bureau's Galveston Biological entists develop a method to determine the high serum-cholesterol levels; test ani- 1959 Charles H. Gilbert to facilitate tuna behavLaboratory successfully tests a new age of scallops using marks on the shell mals also show more rapid growth rates Two new fishways are completed on ior studies. 

shrimp-marking technique using vital and ligament as annual rings. than control animals. The researchers Columbia River tributaries for a total of 

stains which remain with the shrimp even also develop an accurate method for 20 major fishways constructed since the Bureau insecticide reports show that 

as they molt. Research shows that Ever- A fluorinated nitrophenol chemical, measuring the nutritive value of fish Columbia River Fishery Development DDT is toxic to adult white shrimp at con· 

glades' bays are an important nursery discovered the previous year, is used to meals through controlled-diet feeding Program began in 1948. centrations of 15 ppb; endrin and lindane 

area for the Tortugas pink shrimp and that treat eight streams entering the Great studies. are toxic to postlarval shrimp at 0.5 and 

brown and white shrimp peak in abun- Lakes. Developing lamprey larvae are La Jolla Biological Laboratory re- 2.0 ppb, respectively; and endrin is also 

dance at different seasons of the year. killed, bringing hope for an effective Atilapia rearing program in Honolulu searchers design a high-speed plankton highly toxic to fish, killing the sailfin molly 

control of this fish predator. to provide baitfish for luna vessels pro- sampling device to study the continuous at 2.5 ppb. 

Beaufort Biological Laboratory scien· duces over 1,000,000 tilapia fry. distribution of plankton in the environment 

tists develop a method for estimating the A prototype automatic deicing and of the sardine. And, using erythrocyte Exploratory fishing operations off North 

relative abundance of each new year weighing machine is developed and tested A new Biological Laboratory is set up antigens as genetic indicators to study Carolina find an extensive commercial 

class of menhaden prior to its entry into by Bureau technologists to increase elfi- in Washington, D.C., to study the mecha- subpopulations, they find three sardine hard·clam bed and sizeable concentra· 

the commercial fishery, allowing accurate ciency of unloading fish at the dock. nisms by which the elements of the mao blood systems, designated A, B, and C. tions of calico scallops. 

catch predictions for each year class. rine environment affect commercially im· 

Bureau scientists show that introduc- portant fishes and invertebrates. An underwater viewing chamber is A new test method to determine shrimp 

Woods Hole Biological Laboratory sci- ing fish oils into the diet markedly reduces installed in the stern of the BCF vessel quality is developed at the College Park, 

28 
Md., Technology Laboratory and is put 

to use in the Bureau's inspection and 

certification service. 

Bureau technologists at the Gloucester Laboratory demonstrate the 

practicality of using refrigerated sea 

water (RSW) to store whiting prior to 

processing, 

On October 13th the "Don McNeil 

Breakfast Club Show" includes a "fish 

for health" message to 30 million listeners, announcing a major "nutritional 

breakthrough" resulting from Bureausponsored research which indicated the 

value of fishery products in lowering 

blood cholesterol levels. 

"Outdoor Fish Cookery," a Bureaufinanced motion picture, is honored 

with a showing at the 1959 American 

Film Festival. 

A new Biological Laboratory is established at San Diego, Calif., to investigate tuna ecology and tuna fishing 

operations in the eastern Pacific and to 

apply specific oceanographic and biological findings to problems of the west 

coast tuna industry. 

The South AtIanlic fisheries exploration and gear research program begins. 

The Bureau is called upon 10 intensify fishing treaty enforcement and foreign fishing surveillance in international 

waters, especially off the Alaska coast 

where Japan and the Soviet Union have 

concentrated their greatest fishing efforts. 

Federal management of Alaska's 

commercial fisheries ends on December 31st as the new state's agency assumes that responsibility. 

1960's 

Research at the BCF Seattle Technological Laboratory on composition and 

taste of various sharks finds wide variability in palatability between shark 

species. 

1960 

A newly recruited team of biologists, 

histologists, and parasitologists begins 

a long·term study of mollusk diseases, 

including MSX, at the Oxford Laboratory in Maryland. 

The Bureau's new Woods Hole 

Laboratory facility is completely reopened. 

The Nation's first saltwater sport 

fish laboratory is established at Sandy 

Hook, N.J., and Lionel Walford is its 

first director 

The Bureau's northern fur seal and 

whale research studies are combined in 

Seattle and designated as the Marine 

Mammal Biological Laboratory. 

The Auke Bay Laboratory near Juneau opens to house the Alaska fisheries research programs. 

The Pacific Northwest trawl fleet 

begins catching bottomfish off Washington on grounds newly discovered by 

the BCF research vessel John N. Cobb. 

In February, the Honolulu Biological 

Laboratory makes the first successful 

transfer of skipjack tuna from the sea to 

a holding pool ashore: it is the firsl time 

that oceanic skipjack have been held 

for more than a few hours or have been 

induced to feed. In addition, albacore, 

bigeye, and bluefin luna larvae, previ· 

ously unknown, are tentatively identified, opening the way for studies of 

their seasonal and geographical distribution and abundance throughout the 

Pacific. 

The Galveston Biological Laboratory 

announces significant advances in 

identifying specific penaeid shrimp larvae: early larvae derived from known 

parents were obtained for three species, and comparable results are anticipated for several other species. 

Bureau researchers discover extensive calico scallop fishing grounds over 

a 1,200-square-mile area off the Florida 

coast. Also 1,000,000 pounds of hard 

clams are taken by commercial vessels 

i:t 

.l.t 

from a new bed discovered last year 

by Bureau scientists off North Carolina. 

Spring dedication ceremonies open 

the Bureau's new Technological Laboratory in Gloucester, Mass. 

Researchers at Woods Hole find 

that oysters suspended from rafts on 

cultch strings reach commercial size in 

less than half the time needed by 

bottom·grown stock in the same areas, 

and mortalities are less than one-fourth 

of those grown under usual industry 

praclices. 

A milestone in Great Lakes sea 

lamprey control is achieved with the 

chemical treatment of all lampreyproducing streams feeding Lake 

Superior. Treatment of Lake Michigan 

and Lake Huron streams to eradicate 

lampreys begins in cooperation with 

the Fisheries Research Board of 

Canada. 

Bureau chemists demonstrate the 

use of thin layer chromatography for 

isolating and characterizing chemical 

classes of lipid compounds in fish oils, 

a new basic test procedure for chemical laboratories, 

An Alaska fisheries exploration and 

gear research program is initiated, 

based at Juneau. Also. the use of 

radioactive materials in biological research is new, and a radiobiological 

consultant is assigned to the BCF 

Central Office to advise Bureau laboratories on use of radioactive materials in biological research. 

1961 

Between February and April, more Ihan 

222,000 inches of newspaper food column space are devoted to fish topics, of 

which one-third is based on the Bureau's 

consumer-education releases to food 

editors. 

Serological studies of the Pacific sardine show that there is a genetically distinct stock in the Gulf of California, the 

third sardine sUbpopulation to be found 

in the eastern Pacific, 

The Bureau establishes the Tiburon 

Marine Laboratory near San Francisco, 

Calif., to conduct research on migratory 

gamefishes. 

The Bureau's Biological Laboratory 

in Honolulu develops a new method for 

predicting the seasonal catch of skipjack 

tuna for the Hawaiian Islands based on 

the time of 'zero" rate of temperature 

change of the ocean climate-the time 

and rate of warming and salinity 

change-occurring during late February 

and early March of each year. 

Exploratory research locates promising fishing grounds off North and South 

Carolina for vermillion snapper, grouper, 

and scup. 

The BCF research vessel De/aware 

tests the effectiveness of trawls with 

various parts made of polypropylene, 

finding these new nets to be more efficient than the standard manila trawls. 

The first comprehensive program to 

study juvenile salmonid migrants in the 

Columbia and Snake Rivers is initiated. 

Bureau research into the drastic declines of Lake Erie blue pike and walleye 

produces evidence of marked environmental changes, including increases of 

chemicals related to domestic and industrial wastes, Severe oxygen depletion is found over thousands of square 

29 
... 

The Grampus was built in 1886 as a The Fish Hawk was used as a floating fish The Albatross (234 feet long), the world's first vessel 

research vessel and to demonstrate a hatchery in the late 1800's, incubating built exclusively for marine research, was launched 

safer and more effective vessel for eggs on-board and then planting in 1882. Her research cruises ranged from 

commercial fishing. More sea­ the young fish in coastal the Atlantic to the Pacific and into 

worthy than its contemporar­ Atlantic waters. Asian waters as well. 

ies, its design features were 

incorporated by many 

shipbuilders. 

miles of the lake along with dramatic the manufacture of fish protein concen- The Bureau's new 65-foot exploratory Rachel Carson publishes her landmark An active commercial fishery for snow 

changes in the abundance of fish-food trate (FPC). a fine powder containing es- fishing and gear research vessel Kaho is environmental book "Silent Spring: draw- crab develops in southeastern Alaska waorganisms living on the bottom. sential amino acids, minerals, and vita- commissioned in late OCtober and based ing in part on BCF and other Federal and ters as a result of Bureau explorations. 

mins necessary for human health. The at Saugatuck, Mich., for Great Lakes stud· university studies on pesticides like DDT. 

Bureau researchers develop new ana- FPC is viewed worldwide as a potential ies. Congress, on October 9th, authorizes 

Iytical techniques 10 produce better fish human dietary supplement that could The George B. Kelez is acquired for $10 million for construction and operation 

oil fractions and devise new methods to combat world hunger while creating a use 1962 the Seattle Laboratory from the U.S. Navy, of the "National Fisheries Center and 

determine rapidly the chemical compo- for under- or nonulilized fishes. Congress approves aGeological Survey and for the first time it allows the Bureau's Aquarium" in Washington, D.C., for fishernents of such fractions. marine survey of the continental shelf and oceanographic and high-seas salmon ies research and displays. 

In response to increasing numbers of slope between the U.S.-Canada border studies to be extended into the winter seaThe new Bureau-produced film "Fish· foreign vessels fishing along U.S. coasts, and the tip of Florida. Woods Hole scien· son. The Bureau's foreign fishery reporting 

ing the Five Great Lakes" makes 20 such the Bureau increases its surveillance ef- tists process the benthic samples taken in program expands, receiving regular fish· 

educational films in national distribution. forts to ascertain possible effects on U.S. this project for biological specimens. This A new fishery for royal red shrimp be- ery reports from about 90 U.S. embassies 

Since 1946, the Bureau's educational mo· fisheries. is the first and last large-scale baseiine gins off Florida's east coast and in the and consulates and the three full·time 

tion pictures have earned 18 national and benthic survey conducted in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and 19 commercial trawl- fishery attaches in Copenhagen, Tokyo, 

international film festival awards. On August 30th, Congress authorizes Atlantic. ers are converted for it within the year. and Mexico City. 

construction at Milford, Conn., of a shell· Bureau explorations first discovered the 

The Bureau begins a major study of fish laboratory for research and training. Former BCF biologisUwriter/editor deepwater shrimp grounds in 1956. The Bu reau makes its fi rst whale 

30 
The Albatross I~ formerly the U.S. Navy's The Albatross Ill, commissioned in 1948, The 187-foot Albatross IV
 

ocean-going tug Patuxent, was acquired was formerly a steam trawler in the was launched in 1962.
 

by the Bureau in 1926. New England groundfishery.
 

marking and observation cruise off south- finds a significant concentration of imma- square feet of floor space devoted to "wet is also awarded for another new 158-foot gins with about a dozen volunteer 

ern California and northern Baja Califor- ture red salmon in a broad area about 200 laboratories," as well as other laborato- vessel to be named the Townsend taggers. Today the program has several 

nia to determine the condition of the miles south of Kodiak Island and helps ries, offices, a scientific library, and a Cromwell for use in the central Pacific. thousand volunteers worldwide and is the 

North Pacific whale stocks and those pur· toward understanding the distribution and conference room. A second building source of most of the data collected on 

sued by the two U.S. whaling companies. survival of salmon at sea. Methods are houses maintenance facilities and an New shellfish genetics research be· shark migration, reproduction, growth, 

also developed to distinguish between aquarium. gins at the Bureau's Milford, Conn., Bio· longeVity, and exploitation in the Allantic. 

A2-year emergency Alaska salmon North American and Asian pink salmon. logical Laboratory, and the goal is to pro· 

research program concludes, having Several insurance underwriters offer a duce strains of oysters and clams with The Woods Hole Laboratory autumn 

determined the carrying capacity of the Bureau scientists at the La Jolla Lab- 5% reduction in protection and indemnity better growth rates, disease resistance, bottom trawl surveys begin and are the 

freshwater spawning and nursery areas oratory studying the early development of insurance premiums for all New England and market qualities. source of the longest continuous time seof the state, with a better understanding fishes use a temperature-gradient block fishing vessels that install new trawl wire ries of research vessel sampling data in 

of the Pacific salmon runs and their man- to study the development of one group of level-winders on the main winches of the 1963 the world. For the finfish survey, about 

agement, and with data needed for rene- fish eggs at 18 different temperatures si- vessels as a result of the Bureau's fishing A groundbreaking ceremony is held for 300 sites are randomly chosen in waters 

gOliation of the International North Pacific multaneously. vessel safety program. the new BCF Fishery-Oceanography Cen- 2-200 fathoms deep from the Gulf of 

Fisheries Convention in 1963. ter in La Jolla, Calif. Maine to Cape Hatteras. Spring surveys 

The new Biological Laboratory al A new 187-foot research vessel, the are added in 1968. 

The Bureau's first winter high-seas Woods Hole, Mass., is dedicated on June Albatross IV, is delivered to the Woods The cooperative shark tagging prosalmon survey cruise in the North Pacific 23rd. The 3-story building has 24,000 Hole Laboratory in November; a contract gram of the Narragansett Laboratory be- The 565-ton Townsend Cromwell, a 

31 
158-foot research vessel, is completed. It 

has a top speed of 13.5 knots, a 10,000­

mile cruising range, and can perform a 

wide variety of scientific missions anywhere in the world's oceans and under 

the most severe weather and sea conditions. 

u.s. biologists are placed on some 

Japanese trawlers and factory ships in the 

Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, obtaining data on the catch by species, area, 

and quantity, and on gear efficiency. 

Bureau scientists confirm the successful use of tetracycline antibiotic marking 

of fishes with marked adult silver salmon 

returning in the fall to the Clatskanie 

Hatchery on the lower Columbia River. 

Gulf gear research demonstrates that 

an electrified trawl net can significantly 

improve the efficiency of commercial 

shrimp trawling methods. 

Bureau analyses of Atlantic coast 

shore-station sea-surface temperature 

records show a warming trend which 

started near the turn of the century and 

reached a peak in the early 1950's. 

Use of a chemical toxicant in Lake 

Superior streams reduces lampreys there 

by over 80%, bringing a substantial increase in the average size, survival, and 

spawning populations of lake trout. 

The Bureau participates in two international oceanographic expeditions: The 

International Indian Ocean Expedition 

(1I0E) and the International Cooperative 

Investigations of the Tropical Atlantic 

(ICITA). 

Over 215 million pounds of fishery 

products are inspected and certified by 

Federal inspectors in 17 states nationwide. Since 1956, the Bureau has developed grade standards for 14 fishery products upon which the inspections and certifications are based. 

Research programs to prevent botu­ La Jolla, Calif., is dedicated on October 

lism in smoked fish and salmonella are 31st. BCF's CCRL and Tuna Research 

initiated when several consumers are Laboratory, along with the Inter-American 

A hammerhead shark is tagged_ 

stricken by those microorganisms. Tropical Tuna commission (IAnC), STOR, 

the CalCOFI Coordinator, and U.S. Geo1964 logical Survey (USGS) field station perThe new Fishery-Oceanography Center in sonnel move into the new facility. 

Construction begins on a new laboratory at Milford, Conn., to be occupied in 

1967. 

The BCF's Seattle Technological 

Laboratory initiates research on the Pacific Whiting, then called "hake," another 

potentially large fishery. 

The "Bartlett Act," Public Law 88-308, 

of May 20th, prohibits fishing in U.S. territorial waters by foreign-flag vessels unless 

allowed by treaty. Pre-MFCMA (1976) 

territorial waters were within 3 miles along 

most U.S. coastlines. 

Scientists at the Bureau's Seattle Biological Laboratory use the results of pioneering studies in serology, or blood group 

analysis, to identify several subpopulations of salmon in the eastern North Pacific Ocean. 

A new MPDI (Marine Products Development Irradiator) is dedicated at the 

Bureau's Technological Laboratory in 

Gloucester, Mass. By processing up to 

1ton of fish per hour at 250,000 rads, scientists can study the extension of seafood 

shelf life by using radioisotopes to destroy 

the bacteria that cause food spoilage. 

The first coastwide samples from the 

Gulf of Mexico menhaden reduction fishery are acquired, and sampling is continued through the next 31 years. 

1965 

Sandy Hook Laboratory sportfish biologists begin long-term investigations into 

egg and larval fish surveys, red tide, and 

behavior of adult bluefish. 

Regular surf clam and ocean quahog 

surveys begin at the Woods Hole Labora· 

tory, prOViding a continuous time series of 

species information comparable to that 

supplied by the finfish survey sampling 

program since 1963. 

After completing a BCF charter, the St. 

Michael fishes Pacific Whiting successfUlly 

in Puget Sound, Wash., taking about 100 

tons in 13 tows; it is the first commercial 

fishing operation for this species in the 

North Pacific area and the beginning of a 

new regional fishing industry. 

For the first time in a laboratory, blue 

king crab, Paralithodes platypus, are 

raised from the egg through four zoeal 

stages and one glaucothoe larval stage. 

Seattle Biological Laboratory scientists 

find scale characters useful in distinguishing Asian from Bristol Bay, Alaska, sock· 

eye salmon, and for identifying stocks of 

intermingled salmon in the Gulf of Alaska 

from various North American river systems. Pink salmon are also identified to 

their area of origin by scales. 

The Biological Laboratory at Gulf 

Breeze, Fla., establishes acooperative 

nationwide system to monitor nearly a 

dozen organochlorine pesticides using 

monthly analyses of clam, mussel, and 

oyster samples from 150 coastal stations. 

An ecological benchmark of the distribution and abundance of groundfish on 

New England banks is completed, based 

on 3 years of intensive surveys with Bureau vessels. 

The Bureau's comprehensive system· 

atic and anatomical study of the giant 

tunas, genus Thunnus, is completed, and 

a study on systematics and distribution of 

sharks continues. 

The Milford, Conn., Biological Laboratory begins a long-term stUdy of the genetics of commercial mollusks aimed at hybridization and selective breeding. 

The Honolulu Biological Laboratory 

establishes a sampling station on Palau 

for studies on the substantial skipjack 

tuna fishery in the Trust Territories of the 

Pacific Islands. 

32 
The Anadromous Fish Conservation 

Act is passed to conserve, develop, and 

enhance anadromous fisheries covered 

under international agreements and the 

fisheries of the Great Lakes and Lake 

Champlain. 

Sandy Hook Laboratory staff begin 

studies of experimental reef fisheries. 

1966 

Marine resource concerns lead Congress, 

under P.L. 89-454, to authorize on June 

17th the creation of the 'Commission 

on Marine Science, Engineering, and 

Resources.' Later chaired by Julius A. 

Stratton of the Ford Foundation, it is 

simply called the 'Stratton Commission.' 

P.L. 89-454 also sets up the National 

Council on Marine Resources and Engineering Development. 

The 171-foot David Starr Jordan, a 

new BCF research vessel, replaces the 

35-year-old, 150-foot Black Douglas at 

the La Jolla, Calif., research center. 

With an increase in the fishery demonstrated, California legalizes the taking of 

anchovies for meal and oil. The Bureau's 

research laboratory in La Jolla, Calif., 

shifts emphasis from sardines to anchovy. 

The new Tropical Atlantic Biological 

Laboratory (TABL) is set up at Miami, Fla., 

and is an expansion of the BCFs Biological Laboratory which had been moved to 

Miami from Washington, D.C., in early 

1965. 

On October 16th, the Narragansett 

Laboratory of Interior's BSFW is dedicated. It assumes some of the gamefish 

responsibilities of the Sandy Hook Laboratory, which begins to concentrate more 

on habitat and environmental studies. 

A new law passed on November 2nd 

authorizes the development of economical processes for producing fish protein 

concentrate from unutilized and underutilized species of fish. 

Congress recognizes the need for a 

comprehensive, long-range oceanography 

program and passes the Marine Resources and Engineering Development 

Act of 1966 (MAREDA) which sets up a 

National Council at the Secretarial level 

with a 15-member Commission. Later, 

Congress amends the MAREDA with the 

National Sea Grant College and Program 

Act of 1966. 

Abiologist at the Auke Bay, Alaska, 

Biological Laboratory devises anew type 

of lightweight, simple, and inexpensive 

plastic driftcard to chart surface ocean 

currents. Apatent on it is secured for the 

Bureau. 

Scientists with the Ketchikan Technological LaboralOry discover anew method 

for peeling Alaska's pink shrimp quickly 

and maintaining their quality and color, 

thus overcoming a major obstacle to commercial production. 

Congress passes Public Law 89·658, 

extending the U.S. fisheries zone 9 miles 

beyond the 3-mile territorial sea, making 

afull 12-mile zone in which the United 

States will exercise the same exclusive 

rights in respect to fisheries as it has in 

its territorial sea. This is in response to 

the increased foreign fishing activity off 

the U.S. coasts. 

Bureau and contract personnel create 

a new model sonic tag to place inside fish. 

Tests on adult chinook saimon and steelhead trout at the Bonneville Field Station 

are positive. 

The Bureau's California Current 

Resources Laboratory in La Jolla rears 

Pacific mackerel and sardines from the 

egg to an advanced juvenile stage in its 

experimental seawater aquarium. 

The Honolulu Biological Laboratory 

completes the 'OCeanographic Atlas of 

A recipe from Outdoor Fish Cookery, a BCF 

publication promoting seafood for 

enjoyment and health. 

The Honolulu scientists also develop 

evidence leading to lhe identification of 

one of the last large untouched tuna resources in the world in the Central Pacific 

OCean, an intermediate size group, only a 

small portion of which is fished from Ha· 

waii. 

,,_._­

,~_......... ~olIo'''''' '1· ,,~,~_. __,.."' __ 

~I~~... -~. "'.-..._.. _.... 

~~~~~;~;~~;~~~~:.:~~,~ I .... _., ......"' "'""" ... ""11_....-," ..... -.-..31 •."""'''''''-, _<>1,.. _"­ ""'_.,~_.._o#_".,,~._ .. ~...,.,"' ~loo<.._, _.,.._: 

if> _ _ ... "'" ",.,._ , '" JlliflD_~ """''''1 _ ""' ,_ ;,- 'N ....0 ,~_ """_if> "'" .. 100 ..... ?"="-='"'.=_~ ::';:'_0:..::":: :..::: ~'=7~ Mo"" C, • j 

the Pacific Ocean," prOViding a definitive 

summary of data from more than SO,OOO 

oceanographic stations taken by various 

agencies between 1917 and 1964. It also 

describes the environment of every 

known and potential fishery resource of 

the Pacific Ocean. 

Programs at the Bureau's Biological 

Laboratories at Galveston, Tex., and 

Pascagoula, Miss., help determine the 

feasibility of using crewed spacecraft to 

obtain natural resource information. ParThe first commercial shellfish hatchery 

opens on the Pacific coast; it and nine 

other private shellfish farms use data and 

techniques derived from research at the 

Bureau's Milford, Conn., Biological Laboratory. 

In promoting fishery products, Bureau 

efforts produce over 74,000 column inches 

of space in newspapers and magaZines 

with a total readership of over 300 million 

subscribers or purchasers. In addition, 

Bureau home economists develop and test 

633 recipes during the year for consumers, as well as for institutional, school 

lunch, and restaurant use. 

Anew cooperative study is begun on 

the northern anchovy on the Pacific coast 

to assess the species' abundance, distribution of various life stages, and rates of 

fecundity and mortality, to facilitate its 

conservation. 

Alarge study is completed into conditions causing drastic changes since 1900 

in fish populations in Lake Michigan. important factors include high fishing intensity and the explosive increase in the sea 

lamprey population in the 1940's. 

The Bureau's Environmental OCeanic 

Research Program in Washington, D.C., 

completes detailed bottom topographic 

mapping of the Middle Atlantic Continental 

Shelf and arranges for publication of the 

maps by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

Bureau marketing personnel introduce 

such underutilized Gulf of Mexico species 

as mullet, Spanish mackerel, calico scallops, and soft clams to restaurant chains, 

state school lunch programs, and state 

institutions. 

33 
ticular emphasis is on determination of seasurface temperatures, current patterns, sea 

state, shoaling processes, bioluminescence, 

and productivity. Sensing devices being 

tested employ photography, radar, infrared, 

passive microwave, and spectroscopy. 

The Fur Seal Act is passed to protect 

the fur seal herd and administer the Pribilof 

Islands in the Bering Sea. 

The Jellyfish Act is passed to protect 

fish and shellfish resources in coastal water, 

promote water·based recreation, and to control and eliminate jellyfish and other aquatic 

pests. 

1967 

On January 9th, President Lyndon B. 

Johnson appoints the 15 members of the 

"Stratton Commission" who immediately 

begin their study of the Nation's marine 

problems and needs. 

Two southwest laboratories (CCRL 

and the Tuna Research Laboratory) are 

merged into one, and the director, Alan 

Longhurst, also becomes EASTROPAC 

(Eastern Tropical Pacific) Director and 

launches the 4-year expeditionary 

EASTROPAC program which seeks to 

tearn the distribution and abundance of 

skipjack tuna resources and to understand how fish distribution is related to 

the oceanography of the eastern tropical 

Pacific. 

The Sandy Hook Laboratory begins 

studies of natural and artificial marine 

reefs, which lead to several national and 

regional programs to create new artificial 

reef habitat. 

A new $3 million 215-foot ocean reo 

search vessel, the Miller Freeman, is 

launched, and it is designed with laboratories and equipment especially for North 

Pacific oceanographic and fisheries studies. 

In addition, several field stations are estab· 

lished on the Columbia River and Puget 

Sound. 

A salmon aquaculture program is 

established at the Bureau's Seattle 

Laboratory, with a field station at 

Manchester, Wash., on Puget Sound. 

The station soon demonstrates the 

Studying immersion freezing of fish,
 

the Bureau's Technological Laboratory at
 

Terminal Island, Calif., finds that Freon 12
 

effectively preserves and maintains tuna
 

quality and that residual levels of Freon
 

rapid growth of coho salmon in salt· 

water rearing pens from 0.3 ounces to 

a marketable a-ounce size in just 6 

months. 

12 are low. Propylene glycol is also stud· 

ied as a freeZing agent. 

Rearing of pelagic fish larvae, a problem for over a century, is improved at the 

Bureau's Fishery-Oceanography Center 

in La Jolla, Calif" where sardine, anchovy, Pacific mackerel, and more than 

20 other species are reared from egg to 

advanced juvenile or to adult stages. 

Catfish culture production, which grew 

from just a few thousand pounds in 1963 

to 15 million pounds in 1965, gets new 

impetus from the Bureau's cooperative 

technical assistance project which helps 

finance a technical assistance program 

for the industry in nine U.S. south-central 

states. 

Biological studies begin on the culture 

of four shrimp species which have been 

hatched and reared to posllarvae in the 

Bureau's Galveston, Tex., Biological 

Laboratory. 

Biological data acquired by scientists 

at the Bureau's Biological Laboratory at 

Sl. Petersburg, Fla., aids in obtaining the 

first denial of a dredge·fill permit by the 

Corps of Engineers owing to the effect 

upon living resources and based on provi· 

sions of the Fish and Wildlife CoordinationAct. 

The Bureau and three Gulf states be· 

gin an inventory of estuarine resources 

under the auspices of the Gulf States Ma· 

rine Fisheries Commission. 

The Oregon II replaces the Oregon 

as the research vessel at the Pascagoula, 

Miss., laboratory. It discovers new stocks 

of northern tilefish in the Gulf of Mexico 

which average 6-8 pounds-the first evidence of commercial concentrations of 

mature tilefish in the region. 

A series of cooperative U.S.-U.S.S.R. 

fishery surveys are conducted in the 

Middle Atlantic Bight to provide a common base to estimate slock abundance 

and manage the harvests. Participating 

are the Bureau's vessel Albatross IV and 

a Soviet vessel likewise named A/batros. 

Efforts by the Bureau and cooperating 

agencies to control the predatory sea lam· 

prey in the Great Lakes shows more 

progress: Lake trout populations in Lake 

Superior increase almost 35 percent over 

1960 levels. 

Experiments at Bureau Technological 

Laboratories in Seattle, Wash" and Ann 

Arbor, Mich., show that the shelf life of 

perishable foodstuffs can be increased by 

placing them in gaseous environments 

that inhibit growth of spoilage organisms. 

Different ratios of the gases CO" 0" and 

N, have been tested alone and in combination with irradiation. 

A new program at the Honolulu Labor· 

atory is designed to increase the yield and 

efficiency of the pole-and-line fishery for 

skipjack tuna as well as the efficiency of 

the Hawaiian long line fishery. Efforts are 

also under way to develop fisheries for 

high-seas skipjack tuna and for fish and 

shellfish other than tunas. 

1968 

The Sandy Hook Laboratory begins a special study to evaluate the effects on marine life of oceanic disposal of sewage 

sludge and dredged materials. Journalists dub the study area "the Dead Sea: 

and the research reports lead to legisla· 

tion banning ocean dumping of sludge. 

Two new research units are established at Seattle's Montlake Laboratory to 

study the physiology and biochemistry of 

fish and the effect of thermal and petroleum products (and other environmental 

contaminants) on fish. 

During spring and summer, exploratory BCF fishing demonstrates the feasibility of using large steel pots to catch 

offshore New England lobsters in deep 

water, stimulating commercial fishermen 

to enter the fishery. 

A contract is awarded in October 

to build a demonstration FPC plant in 

34 
Aberdeen, Wash., to show the commercial feasibility of FPC and to get 

operating and cost data for such an 

operation. 

SCientists at the SeaUle Technological Laboratory modify a refrigerated 

brine technique used to freeze tuna by 

incorporating dissolved CO in it. The 2 

new technique increases the shelf-life of 

salmon by 10-18 days because the CO2 

inhibits bacterial growth. 

BCF and Japanese scientists cooperatively study several U.S. fish species 

as potential ingredients for "surimi," a 

frozen fish product used in Japan to 

make fish sausages and fish cakes. 

Studied are the spiny dogfish, starry 

flounder, and several Pacific coast rockfishes. 

Seattle Technological Laboratory researchers demonstrate that otherwise 

wasted proteins can be inexpensively 

and simply recovered from diluted solutions in processing plant effluents. 

Comparative feeding tests (protein efficiency ratio) indicate that the nutritive 

value of the complexed protein is about 

equal to the value of the noncomplexed 

protein. 

Honolulu Biological Laboratory researchers show that skipjack tuna of 

the western Pacific (which forms 

Japan's largest tuna fishery) differ genetically from those of the eastern and 

central Pacific, with the dividing line at 

about long. 155'E near Marcuis Island. 

The discovery is based on chemical 

analyses of the tuna's blood systems. 

The Pascagoula Technology Laboratory removes a roadblock to the marketing of snapper fillets: A newly devised 

chemical treatment with TOP and 

cryovac packaging prevents fillet and 

skin discoloration and curling during 

cooking. 

Scientists at the BCF Beaufort Biologi· 

cal Laboratory conduct what is believed to 

be the largest fish tagging program in the 

world, tagging more than 844,000 menhaden in five areas off the Atlantic coast. 

The 93,000 recovered tags provide much 

information on the species' migrations. 

Scientists with the Gloucester Technological Laboratory conceive and benchtest a simple oyster-shucking procedure 

using microwave heating to open the 

shells. The technique later shows a 50% 

increase in shucking productivity without 

reduction in total meat yields. 

Tagging menhaden. 

The Gloucester Laboratory also discovers that the characteristic iodine flavor 

of the ocean quahog can be removed by 

several washings, allowing the species to 

be used in such products as chowders or 

clam puffs. 

1969 

The "Stratton Commission" presents its 

final report on January 11th and recommends creation of a new Federat entitya "National OCeanic and Atmospheric 

Agency" to include initially the BCF and 

other Federal marine and anadromous 

fishery functions, the National Sea Grant 

College Program, and other agencies. 

The Gloucester Laboratory begins a 

pioneering study of fish irradiation to extend its shelf life. 

The first rearing of larval tunas beyond 

the yolk-sac stage from eggs collected in 

the ocean is reported by BCF scientists at 

the Tropical Atlantic Biological Laboratory 

at Virginia Key, Fla. 

Fish schools are first counted and 

measured by sonar off California from the 

BCF's research vessel David Starr Jordan. 

Three BCF diver-scientists participate 

with the U.S. Navy, NASA, and other 

diver-scientists in the new TEKTITE I 

project, spending 60 consecutive days on 

the ocean floor at a 50-foot depth. 

Scientists at the Seattle Biological 

Laboratory provide estimates of growth, 

mortality, and other data for Pacific whiting 

and Pacific ocean perch; this research 

forms the basis for the U.S. position in 

discussions with the U.S.S.R. to reduce its 

whiting fishery. 

Auke Bay Laboratory scientists provide 

U.S. negotiators and management agencies with background data on king crabs in 

the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. The 

data help U.S. representatives obtain a 

48% reduction in the king crab quotas of 

Japan and the U.S.S.R. 

The Honolulu Biological Laboratory 

successfully tests another baitfish, the 

freshwater threadfin shad, to replace the 

native nehu. This shad is as effective as 

the nehu in the skipjack fishery and survives betler in baitwells. 

Honolulu Biological Laboratory researchers track a small tuna with an ultrasonic transmitter and find that it traveled 

farther at night than in daylight and was 

always at the surface at nighHeading to 

the possibility of developing a night tuna 

fishery. 

Artificial mid-water pup-tent-shaped 

structures placed off Panama City, Fla., in 

July aUract commercial quantities of round 

scad, scaled sardines, and Spanish sardines-as much as 25 tons of fish-and 

consistently attracting 0.5-5.0 tons daily. 

The New England haddock decline 

since 1966, due partly to heavy Soviet 

fishing, is accurately predicted by BCF 

scientists who have studied the fishery 

since 1931. 

A new Remote Underwater Fisheries 

Assessment System (RUFAS) is developed by the Pascagoula Laboratory as a 

remotely controlled underwater sled 

eqUipped with television and motion picture cameras which can be towed at varying depths. 

For the first time ever, tuna eggs, collected at sea, are hatched in a laboratory 

and the young survive about 3 weeks. 

Miami Biological Laboratory staff collected 

the eggs from a sample of mixed plankton 

from nearby waters. 

SCientists at the Ann Arbor Biological 

Laboratory provide data on fish contami· 

nation that lead to banning or reducing the 

use of DDT in some states adjacent to the 

Great Lakes. The studies also show that 

the ordinary preparation of fillets of fish 

such as perch produces an edible product 

well within safe tolerance limits. 

The Bureau establishes a small environmental forecasting unit at the U.S. 

Navy's Fleet Numerical Weather Center in 

Monterey, Calif., to identify the part of the 

Navy's vast oceanographic and meteorological data that can be used for related 

fisheries oceanographic forecasting. 

The Bureau and the University of Cali· 

fornia study 175 female northern fur seals 

found at San Miguel Island, Calif.-the 

first confirmed record 01 these seals 

breeding on other than the Pribilof Islands. 

35 
In the late I 960's, of course, the 

Nation's interest in ecology and the 

environment began to grow. Concern over marine and atmospheric 

programs led Congress in 1966 to 

set up the "Stratton Commission," 

formally termed the "Commission 

on Marine Science, Engineering, 

and Resources." This group recommended a new "National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Agency," leading 

to a wholly new era for the BCF. 

Wth President Richard M. 

Nixon's Executive Order 11564, the 

new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was 

indeed created in 1970 under the 

Department of Commerce to use a 

"unified approach to the problems 

of the oceans and atmospheres." 

The BCF was then renamed the 

National Marine Fisheries Service 

(NMFS), placed in NOAA along with 

In terior's marine sport fish research 

laboratories, and given a new mandate including the study and conservation of saltwater sport fishes 

and marine angling. 

Primary NMFS functions were 

assigned to three areas: Resource 

Research, Resource Utilization, and 

Resource Management. And NMFS 

research was soon consolidated 

under four major units, the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and the 

Northwest and Alaska Research 

Centers, each with associated satellite laboratories. 

The first meeting of the International 

Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is held in Rome, Italy, 

beginning a period of U.S.-foreign cooperation in research on important oceanic 

fisheries. 

1970 

Under Executive Order 11564, President 

Richard M. Nixon establishes the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA) under the Department of Commerce. The new organization is directed 

toward a better understanding of the 

Nation's living marine resources, the environment in which they are found, and the 

interaction between the two. 

The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries is 

transferred to NOAA on October 3rd and is 

renamed the National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS). Also transferred are 

functions relating to migratory marine 

game fishes. BCF functions left with Interior are those related to certain Great 

Lakes fisheries, various freshwater fish 

culture stations, Missouri River reservoir 

studies, Trans-Alaska Pipeline studies, 

and the Gulf Breeze, Fla., Laboratory. 

Bureau scientists in La Jolla, Calif., 

successfully spawn the northern anchovy 

in the laboratory, the first time any important commercial pelagic fish has been induced to spawn under artificial conditions. 

1971 

Robert White, first NOAA Administrator, 

establishes four major "offshore" fisheries 

research centers throughout the Nation: 

the Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Center (NWAFC), Southwest Fisheries Center 

(SWFC), Northeast Fisheries Center 

(NEFC), and Southeast Fisheries Center 

(SEFC). They report to NMFS headquarters. Three "coastal" fisheries research 

centers, which report to Regional Directors, are also established: Gulf Coast 

Fisheries Center (GCFC), Atlantic Estuarine Fisheries Center (AEFC), and Middle 

Atlantic Coast Fisheries Center (MACFC). 

The basic five-regional office structure is 

retained. 

The Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC) is established by the Secretary of Commerce to advise on marine 

fisheries resource issues. 

Research on fish protein concentrate 

production culminates in construction of 

an experimental plant (which began operation in March) and issuance of U.S. 

Patent 3,598,606 for a novel washing procedure that removes the bulk of the lipids. 

Techniques to reduce mortality of porpoises caught accidentally in tuna fishing 

operations are evaluated by the SWFC. 

Techniques are developed at the 

SWFC for rapid counting and aerial measurement of fish schools by sonar. 

NWAFC scientists successfully rear 

coho salmon in floating saltwater pensa technique that shows great promise as 

a commercial salmon production venture. 

Inexpensive and lightweight deepwater fish traps are developed at the 

NWAFC, found to be effective, and are 

adopted commercially. 

NMFS Auke Bay Laboratory scientists 

survey prior to and after detonation of a 

nuclear device at Alaska's Amchitka Island; no significant damage to marine 

fauna or environment is found. 

36 
The Present Era: NMFS-wide Marine Resources 

1972-1996 Monitoring Assessment and Prediction (MARMAP) program began to 

As the Nation grew in environ­ collect uniform data for fisheries 

mental awareness, the holistic as­ management and this information 

pects of marine research and ecol­ has been crucial to the ecosystems 

ogy, pioneered in the 1870's by approaches later developed by the 

Spencer Baird, gained added impe­ Fishery Management Councils. 

tus. NMFS published large volumes 

on ocean variability and the rela­ New laws were passed to protect 

tionship of the ocean's physical and endangered species and the marine 

chemical processes to fish distribu­ environment and its resources. 

tion' abundance, and stock composi­ These included the Marine Mammal 

tion. In the middle 1970's the new Protection Act, the National EnviAn international tagging program is SEFC scientists successfully test a stock of migrating fish. Gulf research indireviewed by the NEFC Narragansett Labor­ low light level image intensifier system to cates that menhaden populations east and December 31st. 

atory which describes blue shark migration locate fish schools at night by detecting west of the Mississippi River may constiroutes. the bioluminescent halo that surrounds tute separate stocks. 

them. 

MACFC scientists find fin rot disease AEFC scientists develop mathematicai 

in fish to be caused by several pathogenic GCFC scientists determine optimum models that indicate that a large proporbacteria. Incidence of the disease appears culturing techniques for larval shrimp and tion of total marine productivity is required 

to be related to environmental pollution. for diatoms used as shrimp food. to support exploited fish populations. 

Parasitic amoebae and bacteria from GCFC scientists document the rate The National Fisheries Engineering 

several fish and shellfish are identified that fish colonize newly constructed ca­ Laboratory is located at the National 

and characterized by MACFC scientists. nals and assess the freshwater require­ Space Technology Laboratories (Miss.) to 

ments of marine fishery resources in launch a remote sensing program and to 

SEFC scientists complete an atlas on coastal Louisiana and south Florida. modify satellite technology to support fishthe distribution of tunas and billfishes in eries research. It is renamed the Bay St. 

the Atlantic Ocean. AEFC scientists prove that the Atlantic Louis Laboratory. 

menhaden resource is composed of one 

U.S. commercial whaling ends as of 

1972 

NMFS Director Philip Roedel announces 

that the agency, under NOAA, has a much 

broader charter than its predecessor 

agencies and is now resource-oriented 

rather than user-oriented. 

The Marine Mammal Protection Act is 

passed and establishes a moratorium on 

taking marine mammals in U.S. waters 

and by U.S. citizens on the high seas. 

The Coastal Zone Management Act is 

passed to provide gUidance, expertise, 

and funding to help states protect and 

ronmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and others. Research advances also brought new 

concepts and better understanding 

of the resources and better ways to 

protect and manage them. 

manage U.S. coastal areas. 

Another "first," the spawning of haddock in captivity at the NEFC Narragansett 

Laboratory, is announced. 

A program for reef fishery descriptions 

and analyses for southeastern U.S. waters 

begins. 

The Bay St. Louis, Miss., Laboratory 

installs the first computer-based scientific 

data-logging system aboard the Albafross IV. 

The GCFC is dedicated at Panama City, 

Fla., to study the biology and ecology of 

coastal marine fishes. with emphasis on 

sport species. 

37 
And in 1976, Congress passed ing Program which was later ex­ "Our Living Oceans," the most thorthe landmark Magnuson Fishery panded nationwide as NOAA's Status ough assessment ever of the status 

Conservation and Management and Trends Program in 1984-85. and abundance of the fishes and 

Act-the first real step toward com­ Others were the Fisheries Oceano­ marine mammals within the u.S. 

prehensive management of marine graphy Coordinated Investigations ZOO-mile EEZ. 

fishes. The new law set up eight (FOCI) program, the Southeast Area 

regional Fishery Management Coun­ Monitoring and Assessment Program OUR 

cils to manage the Nation's fisheries (SEAMAP), etc. LIVING 

OCEANS within the newly created ZOO-mile 

fishery conservation zone (FCZ). In 1985, the NMFS Woods Hole 

Laboratory was rededicated, celebratAnother new marine environ­ ing a full century of marine fisheries 

mental research initiative was the and environmental research. And in 

Ocean Pulse and Northeast Monitor- 1991, NMFS published a new report, 

The Central, Western and South Pa· 1974 Program, which provides for quality assur· In November, 30,000 young silver Francisco becomes another element of the 

cific Fisheries Development Act is passed The NMFS Atlantic Environmental Group ance tests at dockside, at the processing salmon reared at the NMFS Tiburon SWFC. 

to establish a program for the develop- is moved from Washington, D.C., to the plant, and at retail outlets. Laboratory are released. Many will 

ment of tuna and other fishery resources NEFC Narragansett Laboratory. return in 1976 to San Francisco Bay, The Helgoland undersea habitat 

of those Pacific regions. Remote sensing applications to fisher- which never before had silver salmon project is conducted in the Gulf of Maine 

Publication of targe volumes begins ies research in southeastern U.S. waters runs. to study spawning behavior of sea her· 

The Fisheries Loan Program receives on ocean variability within what will be- are stimulated when SEFC scientists find ring. The equipment is German, the 

more than $2.2 million this year. Since come the U.S. fishery conservation lone. significant relationships between water The NMFS-wide Marine Resources project logistics are by Poland, and scien1956, $31.3 million has been loaned to Staff at the Narragansett Laboratory are color and Gulf menhaden distribution pat- Monitoring Assessment and Prediction tists on the study hail from five countries, 

fishing vessel owners. in the forefront of mapping and tracking terns. (MARMAP) program is established. The including the United States. 

physical and chemical processes in rela- project forms the basis for uniform data 

1973 lion to fish distribution, abundance, and The Auke Bay Laboratory (ABL) in collection necessary for fisheries man- Annual sea scallop surveys begin at 

The Endangered Species Act is passed to stock composition. Alaska becomes a part of the NWAFC. agement and critical to the ecosystems the NEFC, prOViding acontinuous time 

protect species and populations whose approaches now being developed by series of species information comparable 

numbers are small or declining; NMFS is The NMFS Gloucester Laboratory ini- A mandatory Marine Mammal Observer fishery management councils. to that supplied by the finfish survey samresponsible for marine species under the tiates a landmark program on quality as- Program is implemented in the U.S. purse- piing program since 1963. 

law. surance of fresh fish fillets, including a seine fishery for yellowfin tuna in the east- 1975 

U.S. Department of Commerce Inspection ern tropical Pacific Ocean. The NMFS Tiburon Laboratory near San Some 195 cases are investigated relat38 
Summary proved the assessment of fish ally contributed to the Nation's 

populations and the ways to food supply and health. 

Over the past 125 years, the NMFS protect, manage, and restore 

and its predecessor agencies have them. • Its work has greatly advanced 

played a crucial role in the develop­ the safety and preservation of 

ment, use, and protection of the • It promoted the establishment fishery products through 

Nation's marine resources: of many state fish commis­ research to prevent botulism, 

sions and their fish cultural detect and prevent red tide 

• Its early work fostered and work, research, and manage­ problems, and more. 

advanced the Nation's now ment. 

huge aquaculture industry. • Its research into pollution and 

• Its assessment of the nutri­ pesticide problems helped gen­

• Its research into fish biology tional and healthful values of erate environmental awareness 

and ecology has greatly im- fish and fish oils have materi- and protective measures. 

ing to the Marine Mammal Protection Act The Polish Zooplankton Sorting Center On OCtober 1st, The Northwest Fish­ first defined efficiency value (0) for a sam­ 1977-78, SEFC scientists first discover 

as are 381 cases involving endangered in Szczecin, Poland, opens as a multina­ eries Center in Seattle officially becomes pling trawl. the apparent hibernation of sea turtles, 

species and related products including sei­ tional effort to process marine life sampled the Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Cen­ finding loggerhead sea turtles overwinterzures of quantities of sperm whale oil and in the massive research efforts during the ter (NWAFC). NMFS agents investigate and assist ing and sheltered in the mud of the Port 

teeth, raw baleen, and scrimshaw. ICNAF era. Scientists from the NEFC are with a"stranding' where 28 false killer Canaveral, Fla., ship channel. 

instrumental in training staff to identify and Further NMFS consolidation on the whales are successfully "unbeached' and 

1976 classify zooplankton and in helping to es­ east coast incorporates the Woods Hole, returned to sea at Dry Tortugas, Fla. All 1978 

The Fishery Conservation and Manage­ tablish laboratory procedures. Sandy Hook, and Narragansett Laborato­ but one survive. NMFS scientists publish a paper prOVing 

ment Act (FCMA) is passed and estab· ries with four regional laboratories into that Spanish mackerel prevalent in the 

Iishes eight regional fishery management The NMFS Southeast Fisheries Center the Northeast Fisheries Center. 1977 Gulf of Mexico and along the U.S. east 

councils and the 200-mile fishery conser­ is reorganized to include the research that Along-term environmental monitoring pro­ coast are a species distincl from the 

vation zone (FCl). had been done under four smaller labora­ The Pacific Utilization Research gram is established by the NEFC in its Spanish mackerel known in Brazil. 

tories. Headquarters is in Miami, Fla., and Center is brought into the NWAFC and OCean Pulse and Northeast Monitoring 

The Pacific Environmental Group, now additional research facilities are in Beau­ renamed the Utilization Research (UR) Programs. This project is later expanded The College Park Technological Labothe Pacific Fisheries Environmental Group fort, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Miami and Division. to a nationwide project, NOAA's Status ratory is moved from Maryland to Charles­

(PFEG) in Monterey, Calif., becomes an­ Panama City, Fla.; Bay SI. Louis and and Trends Program, in 1984-85. ton, S.C., and renamed the Charleston 

other element of the SWFC. Pascagoula, Miss.; and Galveston, Tex. NMFS Pascagoula Laboratory Har­ Laboratory. 

vesting Systems Division develops the During the extremely cold winter of 

39 
Spencer F. Baird G. Brown Goode Marshall McDonald John J. Brice George M. Bowers 

1871-1887 1887-1888 1888-1895 1896-1898 1898-1913 

The first five leaders of the U.S.' Commission of Fish and Fisheries. 

The SEFC begins an extensive gear Aiaska, to study and count endangered The Mississippi Laboratories designs Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. 1981 

research and development program to re- bowhead whales during their spring migra­ the prototype satellite-linked porpoise The SWFC promotes cooperative interduce the incidental capture and mortality tion. tracking tag which successfUlly charts the The original FCMA is officially re- regional rapport on west coast groundfish 

of sea turtles in shrimp trawis, leading to position of porpoises off Hawaii. named the Magnuson Fishery Conserva­ research and oversees an NMFS technical 

the development of various trawling effi- The Bay St. Louis Laboratory designs tion and Management Act (MFCMA) in committee to plan a groundfish conference 

ciency devices (TED's). an at-sea porpoise impoundment system 1980 honor of Sen. Warren Magnuson. as an annual forum for reviewing and coorfor marine mammal research in the Gulf On March 12th, scientists of the NWAFC dinating NMFS groundfish research with 

NMFS conducts tests to develop of Mexico. Resource Assessment and Conservation The Mississippi Laboratories achieves the states, academia, and Canada. The 

"excluder panels" that keep turtles from Engineering (RACE) Division discover a success with its prototype satellite-linked first "Groundfish Conference" is held in 

being caught in shrimp nets while permit- The NMFS Pascagoula Laboratory and large concentration of walleye pollock sea turtle tracking tag in the Gulf of Gleneden Beach, Oreg., November 18-20. 

ting shrimp harvest. the Engineering Laboratory at Bay St. eggs in Shelikof Strait, Alaska, near Mexico. 

Louis, Miss., are merged to form the "Mis- Kodiak Island. In subsequent years re- NEFC staff become part of the Georges 

Loggerhead and green sea turtles are sissippi Laboratories." searchers measure the spawning popula- The NMFS Mississippi Laboratories' Bank boundary dispute that had been simlisted as threatened for all populations tion and trace the movements of the eggs Harvesting Systems Division develops the mering between the U.S. and Canada in 

worldwide. 1979 and larvae. This research has expanded first turtle excluder device to prevent cap- light of the 200-mile EEZ's claimed by both 

In February, the NWAFC Marine Mammal into the Fisheries Oceanography Coordi­ ture of endangered sea turtles in shrimp countries. Outlining species distribution, 

On April 1st, four NMFS biologists set Division is designated as the National nated Investigations (FOCI) program, a trawls. abundance, spawning areas, and tradiup camp in snow caves at Cape Lisburne, Marine Mammal Laboratory. joint effort with NOAA scientists at the tional uses of commercial fishermen in the 

40
 
When Spencer Baird set up But the Nation's fishery potential 

the U.S. Fish Commission in 1871, was huge, awaiting research and 

the U.S. fishing industry was locally development to unlock it. Progress 

important, and fish harvests, pres­ in fishery development began to 

ervation, transportation, and sales accelerate after 1900 and moved far 

were limited. Lack of ice, cold-stor­ faster after World War II. The U.S. 

age facilities, and rapid transit lim­ tuna industry is just one example. 

ited fresh fish sales to nearshore 

cities and local markets. Canned, Serious tuna fishing began in 

dried, and pickled fish sales re­ 1903 in southern California when 

mained small. Most of the products albacore was successfully canned 

we see now in our fish markets for the first time. Even tually, U.S. 

were nonexistent. tuna vessels would roam farther 

and farther south during the 1920's 

areas, the staff reports generated over ated. It is a collaborative Slate/Federal/ 1982 

several years form the basis of the Inter­ University effort for collection, manage­ The Northern Pacific Halibut Act is passed 

national Court of Justice decision dividing ment, and dissemination of marine data to enforce the terms of the U. S. -Canada year. 

the Bank. from the U.S Gulf of Mexico, South Atlan· agreement prohibiting fishing by unautho· 

tic, and Caribbean regional waters. rized foreign vessels. 

A computer·based albacore fishery 

and resource modeling effort is under­ New Lacey Act Amendments are The Southeast Region's SEAMAP Retaken by SWFC staff and University of passed to make it illegal to trade in fish, source Survey begins in cooperation with 

Washington contract scientists. wildlife, or plants taken in violation of any the Gulf States Marine Fisheries CommisU.S. or Indian tribal law, treaty, or regula· sion. 

A major compilation of the research on tion. 

the chemical composition and nutritive 1983 

values of fishes and fish products is pub­ The NMFS Northwest Regional Office The SEFC begins a series of research 

lished by SEFC Charleston Laboratory moves to the first completed building at cruises to develop an effective strategy to 

scientists. the new NOAA Western Regional Center understand "latent" or underutilized fishery 

at Sand Point in Seattle. resources. The studies help generate new 

The Southeast Area Monitoring and fisheries for the Gulf butterfish and other 

Assessment Program (SEAMAP) is initi­ species. Coastal herrings and associated 

and 1930's, finding the tropical 

tunas, yellowfin and skipjack, in 

great abundance, and by the 1930's, 

tunas were a major source of food. 

In addition, Atlantic Ocean tuna 

fishing became important. 

Development of the U.S. tuna 

and other important fisheries has 

required exploration for new fishing grounds, creation of new fish 

products and markets, assistance in 

coping with foreign competition, 

finding better ways of chilling, 

species are estimated to have a potential international symposium dedicated to the 

yield of up to 5 million metric tons per memory of its late scientist Elbert Halvor 

Ahlstrom. 

SEFC scientists develop yield-per­ 1984 

recruit models for the major species The NWAFC's Center Director's Office 

found along the southeastern U.S. coast and its RACE and Resource Ecology and 

and set the pattern for reef fish manage­ Fisheries Management (REFM) divisions 

ment by the Gulf of Mexico and South move to the new NOAA Western Regional 

Atlantic Fishery Management Councils. Center at Sand Point in Seattle. The National Marine Mammal Laboratory 

On March 10th, the FCZ is designated (NMML) also moves to the new facility. 

as the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone 

(EEZ) by Presidential Proclamation. On August 18th, a plane carrying four 

biologists from the National Marine MamOn August 15-18, the NMFS sponsors mal Laboratory crashes into the frigid wathe "Symposium on Ontogeny and Sys­ ters of the Arctic Ocean during bowhead 

tematics of Fishes" in La Jolla, Calif., an whale surveys. Miraculously, all survive. 

41 
freezing, holding, and packaging 

fish, and more. In addition, Bureau 

and NMFS scientists studied the 

oceanographic processes that affect 

the fishes as well as fish biology 

and behavior-gaining information 

needed by commercial fishermen 

and for fishery management programs. 

Today, American consumers are 

no longer limited to a few fish or 

fish products. Owing to NMFS reThe Eastern Pacific Tuna Licensing 

Act of 1984 is passed to issue and enforce rules protecting designated species 

of tuna under the Eastern Pacific Tuna 

Fishing Agreement. 

The Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act is passed to assist in the conservation, restoration, and management of 

the species and enforce compliance with 

the Interstate Fisheries Management Plan 

for Striped Bass. 

Cooperative U.S.-Japan squid surveys 

in lhe Gulf of Mexico are initiated at the 

NMFS Mississippi Laboratories. 

1985 

An arsonist burns the Sandy Hook Laboratory building, destroying the research 

aquarium facilities, many records, and the 

library. 

The NMFS Southwest Region signs 

the first Memorandum of Understanding 

between the U,S. Army Corps of Engineers 

and NOAA/NMFS for fisheries habitat enhancement. 

The NMFS Northeast Fisheries Center's 

Woods Hole Laboratory is rededicated in 

August, celebrating its first century of research accomplishment and service. 

SEFC scientists begin a new fish oil prosearch, our own u.s. fish products 

are sold around the world in many 

forms, and our fish markets provide 

a broad variety of fresh, frozen, and 

prepared food products from species 

from around the globe. (ConI. on page 44.) 

INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION
 

GUARANTEE QUALITY
 

tnc~ .~.,; ~':j; ----< t A ::::> 'Fr
 .. ,.. ,,,.,,_. /


a (- ," /'\'~ l~~m~", K. 

\ J/~ :.;'~ Ii) '. / ->..--;:::. \ ",.!, .-.-" fO::::> --- __ <>s'~r!.:..~

~~.

gram to help the biomedical community 

ascertain the effects of the omega-3 fatty 

acid subcomponents on human health. 

1986 

The SWFC develops strategic plans for 

the joint SWFC-SWR-California Department of Fish and Game Marine Recreational Fisheries Program. 

The Congressionally mandated, 5-year 

program to survey dolphin populations in 

the eastern tropical Pacific is launched, 

and the first expedition is carried out using 

two NOAA research vessels. 

Austin B. Williams of the NMFS National Systematics Laboratory publishes a 

paper in the NMFS Journal Marine Fisheries Review (MFR) identifying various species of spiny lobster from the tails alone. 

This was to address difficulties military 

purchasers were encountering with buying 

'U.S. origin only." Alarge publishing 

house later reprints it as a mass-mar1<et 

illustrated guide. 

NMFS petitions the U.S. Food and 

Drug Administration to seek affirmation of 

menhaden oil and partially hydrogenated 

menhaden oil as being Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), culminating 9 

years of research into the chemistry of fish 

oils and the history of their safe use. 

The Inte~urisdictional Fisheries Act of 

1986 is passed to distribute Federal money 

to the states for use in developing research 

programs to enhance the management of 

interstate fisheries. 

1987 

The SWFC plays a vital role in the development and signing of the MEXUS-Pacifico 

agreement for fisheries cooperation between Mexico and the United Stales. 

The South Pacific Tuna Treaty between 

the governments of certain Pacific Island 

States and the U.S. government is signed 

in Papua New Guinea, giving U.S. tuna 

fishermen access to over 10 million square 

miles of rich fishing grounds in the South 

Pacific. 

42 
A multi-year collaboration among 

NEFC scientific staff and outside colleagues results in publication by MIT 

Press of acomprehensive benchmark 

regional atlas entitled "Georges Bank." 

NMFS signs ajoint Memorandum of 

Agreement with the Port of Los Angeles 

for the largest wetlands restoration project 

(600+ acres) in southern California 

(Batiquitos Lagoon). 

The Driftnet Impact Monitoring, Assessment, and Control Act is passed 10 

monitor, assess, and reduce adverse impacts of driftnets on marine fisheries. 

Using data collected by the Sandy 

Hook Laboratory, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) closes the 12-mile 

sewage sludge dumpsite in the New York 

Bight. 

1987-88 

John Pearce of the NEFC chairs the New 

Jersey Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on 

Ocean Incidents which leads to a"State of 

the Ocean" report, quelling rumors and 

misperceptions about the New YorkMiddle Atlantic Bight water quality. 

1988 

The SWFSC receives the Group Award for 

Excellence from the American Institute of 

Fisheries Research Biologists, in recognition of the Center's outstanding achievements in marine biological research. 

The South Pacific Tuna Act is passed 

by Congress, implementing the treaty between the United States and various Pacific Island states, covering prohibitions 

and licensing procedures for tuna fishing 

and authorizing NMFS to carry out U.S. 

obligations under the treaty. The SWR 

establishes a field office in Pago Pago, 

American Samoa, to take species composition and length-frequency samples of 

U.S. catch from the Treaty area, inspect 

vessel logbooks, and facilitate the placement of observers aboard vessels. 

The NWAFC is divided into the Alaska 

Fisheries Science Center and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. 

The Maurice Stansby Fish Oil Biomedical Test Materials Laboratory is dedicated 

at the NMFS Charleston Laboratory. 

The first comprehensive film on shrimp 

trawl design and performance is produced 

by the Mississippi Laboratories' Harvesting Division. 

NMFS receives a report of three gray 

whales trapped in ice near Barrow, Alaska. 

For three weeks, NMFS leads an international rescue operation that allows two of 

the whales to swim free from the ice on 

October 28th. 

1989 

The Coast WatCh Program begins receiving satellite imagery of sea surface temperatures used to study and manage red 

tides and sea turtle/fishery interactions. 

The winter run of chinook salmon in 

California's Sacramento River is listed as 

a threatened species. 

1990 

Clyde L. MacKenzie, Jr., of the NEFSC 

Sandy Hook Laboratory publishes "The 

History of the Fisheries of Raritan Bay," a 

modern classic of regional history combining information on fisheries and science in 

the Marine Fisheries Review. lt is later 

republished by a major university press. 

43 
The Future • Working with the people-the • Working with various research 

commercial and sport fisher­ and management groupsAs NMFS moves into 1996, a review men, fish culturists and proces­ Fishery Management Councils, 

of its 125 years of science and service sors, and conservation and State agencies, interstate comreveals some surprising similarities environmental groups-re­ missions, and international 

with its early years: mams a top priority of the bodies-remains a key part of 

agency. protecting America's fishery 

• The study of manne resources resources. 

and ecosystems, home to our • Studying the biology, systematimportant fisheries, is just as ics, and environmental and • Researching and assessing the 

important now as when Spencer habitat needs of the marine effects of various pollutants 

Baird initiated such research in fishes, mammals, and other spe­ and disease organisms are still 

1871. cies continues to be important. important agency tasks. 

The Mississippi Laboratories' Harvest­ -letter from American Fisheries Society partment of the Interior, EPA, Corps of The North Pacific Anadromous Stocks A ban is imposed on importation of 

ing Systems Division develops a protocol to U.S. Senate Committee. Engineers, and NOAA. Convention Act repeals the North Pacific shrimp caught with gear that harms sea 

for the qualification of new turtle excluder Fisheries Act of 1954 and implements turtles unless the country in question has 

devices using captive-reared turtles. 1991 1992 protective measures for salmon and shad. a strong turtle conservation program in 

At a special symposium, Sandy Hook An interdisciplinary team of scientists effect. 

The Mississippi Laboratories' Harvest­ Laboratory staff report the results of a headquartered at Woods Hole begins the A NOAAlNMFS lawsuit results in sucing Systems Division develops Bycatch 4-year study into the recovery of marine first large-scale ecosystems study of cessful judgment prohibiting the Glenn­ The High Seas Driftnet Fisheries EnReduction Devices (BRD's), selective gear life and habitat at the 12-mile dumpsite off Georges Bank. The resulting work will be Colusa Irrigation District in California forcement Act is passed to maintain a lisl 

modifications to reduce catches of non­ New Jersey. The intensive, multidisciplin· the first attempt to describe and model from violating the ESA by diverting Sacra­ of nations that allow large-scale driftnet 

targeted species in shrimp trawls. It also ary effort described changes in the physi­ the processes and marine life on the bank mento water dUring the endangered fishing (which entangles protected mamdevelops new trawling technology for sam­ cal oceanography, sediment processes, as acomplete system. winter-run chinook salmon migration pe­ mals and fish as well as commercial fish) 

pling and harvesting coastal pelagic spe­ and biota. riod. beyond their EEZ. 

cies in the Gulf of Mexico. The Convention for the Conservation 

The nationwide Coastal America Pro­ of Anadromous Stocks in the North Pa· The Central Valley Project (CVP) Im­ 1993 

"Monetary value of U.S. commercial gram (CAP) is established. The SWR cific Ocean is signed in Moscow by provement Act is passed to balance com­ The NEFSC Cooperative Shark Tagging 

fisheries landings [are) at over $3.5 billion chairs the first meeting of the CAP South­ Canada, Japan, Russia, and the United peting demands 01 humans, fish, and wild­ Program marks its 30th anniversary. The 

at dockside with economic value of recre­ west Regional Implementation Team, States establishing the North Pacific life for use of CVP water throughout Cali­ value of the in-kind contribution of the volational fishing an additional $13.5 billion." composed of representatives from the De- Anadromous Fish Commission. fornia. unteers is estimated at $8 million annually. 

44 
Today, most u.s. fisheries are 

at a mature stage, requiring research, 

management, and in some cases restoration. With its solid background of 

125 years of biological and oceanographic research and achievements, 

the National Marine Fisheries Service 

is well established and ready to meet 

the challenges of the 21 st century. 

1995 

Management of the Pacific halibut and 

sablefish fisheries off Alaska is converted 

from an open-fo-entry "derby-style" system to individual fishing quotas, allowing 

an a-month season, improved product 

quality, and availability of fresh halibut 

and sablefish fo the consumer. 

Florida Stale University and the 

SEFSC Panama City Laboratory sign an 

agreement to study new ways to increase 

stocks of declining fisheries. Seagrasses 

(which serve as fish nurseries) and 

sharks (Which are dwindling) are early research targets. 

The scientists begin to aggregate results 

of the program for a new benchmark publication on shark distribution and migration. 

NMFS issues a biological opinion (with 

alternatives) concluding that longterm operation of the Central Valley 

Project in California will likely jeopardize 

the continued existence of the Sacramento 

River endangered winter-run chinook 

salmon. 

The new NMFS facility at Sandy Hook, 

N.J., now named the James J. Howard 

Laboratory, is officially dedicated, replacing the one destroyed by arson. 

1994 

The SWR and other Federal and state 

resource agencies, working with pUblic 

and private interests, reach a hardfought, three-year "Bay-Delta" agreement 

on water quality standards to protect the 

Sacramento-San Joaquin estuary in California. 

ASouth Korean fishing company, 

whose vessel was caught poaching fish 

from U.S. waters in the western Pacific, 

settles in U.S. District Court for a $1 million fine and agrees to have its fleet of 17 

fishing vessels tracked by satellite for 5 

years. The provision allowing satellite 

tracking by U.S. authorities is unprecedented. 

45 
Acronyms and Abbreviations
 

ABL 

AEFC 

BCF 

BRD 

BSFW 

CalCOFI 

CAP 

CCRL 

CVP 

CZES 

EASTROPAC 

EC 

EEZ 

EPA 

FCMA 

FCZ 

FOCI 

FPC 

GCFC 

GRAS 

IATTC 

ICCAT 

ICITA 

ICNAF 

IGY 

HOE 

INPFC 

MACFC 

MAFAC 

MAREDA 

46 

Auke Bay Laboratory 

Atlantic Estuarine Fisheries Center 

Bureau of Commercial fisheries 

Bycatch reduction device 

Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife 

California Cooperative Fisheries Investigations 

Coastal America Program 

California Current Resources Laboratory 

Central Valley Project (in California) 

Coastal Zone and Estuarine Studies (Division) 

Eastern Tropical Pacific (research program) 

Environmental Conservation (Division) 

Exclusive Economic Zone (200 miles) 

Environmen tal Protection Agency 

Fishery Conservation and Management Act-original name 

of the MFCMA. 

Fishery conservation zone 

Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations 

(program) 

Fish protein concentrate 

Gulf Coastal Fisheries Center 

Generally Recognized as Safe 

Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission 

International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic 

Tunas 

International Cooperative Investigations of the Tropical 

Atlantic 

International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic 

Fisheries 

International Geophysical Year 

International Indian Ocean Expedition 

International North Pacific fisheries Commission 

Middle Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Center 

Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee 

Marine Resources and Engineering Development Act of 1966 

MARMAP 

MBL 

MFCMA 

MFR 

MPDI 

NEFC 

NEFSC 

NMFS 

NMML 

NOAA 

NWFC 

NWR 

OFIS 

PfEG 

POFI 

RACE 

REFM 

RUfAS 

RV 

S-K 

SEAMAP 

SEFC 

SIO 

STOR 

SWFC 

SWR 

TABL 

TED 

UR 

USFWS 

USGS 

WHL 

WHOI 

Marine Resources Monitoring Assessment and 

Prediction (program) 

Marine Biological Laboratory 

Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act 

Marine Fisheries Review 

Marine Products Development Irradiator 

Northeast fisheries Center 

Northeast fisheries Science Center 

National Marine Fisheries Service 

National Marine Mammal Laboratory 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

Northwest Fisheries Center 

Northwest Regional Office of the NMFS 

Office of fisheries Information Systems 

Pacific Fisheries Environmental Group 

Pacific Oceanic fishery Investigations 

Resource Assessment and Conservation Engineering (Division) 

Resource Ecology and fisheries Management (Division) 

Remote Underwater fisheries Assessment System 

Research Vessel 

Saltonstall-Kennedy Act 

Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program 

Southeast fisheries Center 

Scripps Institution of Oceanography 

Scripps Tuna Oceanography Research 

Southwest fisheries Center 

Southwest Regional Office of the NMfS 

Tropical Atlantic Biological Laboratory 

Trawling efficiency device 

Utilization Research (Division) 

U.S. fish and Wildlife Service
 

U.S. Geological Survey
 

Woods Hole Laboratory of the U.S. fish Commission,
 

now part of the NMfS Northeast fisheries Science Center 

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 
Acknowledgments 

Text for this publication was written by W. L. 

Hobart, Chief, NMFS Scientific Publications 

Office (Spa). The chronology was compiled by 

Shelley Arenas (Spa), Gary Duker (Alaska 

Fisheries Science Center [AKFSC]), W. L. Hobart 

(Spa), and from materials submitted for the 

NMFS 125th Anniversary Calendar by other 

NMFS Offices and Science Centers. This publication benefitted from critical reviews by Ken 

Beal (NMFS Northeast Regional Office), Brad 

Brown (Southeast Fisheries Science Center), 

David Damkaer (retired NMFS scientist), 

Sharon Damkaer (Northwest Fisheries Science 

Center), Gary Duker (AKFSC), Peter Fricke 

(NMFS HQ), Barbara Haggerty (NOAA Public 

Affairs), Sharyn Matriotti (SPa), James 

Meehan (NMFS HQ), and Maryann Rodriguez 

(Southwest Fisheries Science Center). Acronyms and Abbreviations were by Sharon 

Damkaer (NWFSC). Design and layout were by 

David Stanton (SPO). The cover photograph of 

a wave is copyrighted by SuperStock, Inc. 

A Word About NOAA 

The National Oceanic andAtmosphericAdministration (NOAA) conducts research and 

gathers data about the global oceans, atmosphere, space, and sun, and applies this 

knowledge to science and service that touch 

the lives of all Americans. 

NOAA warns of dangerous weather, charts 

our seas and skies, guides our use and protection of ocean and coastal resources, and 

conducts research to improve our understanding and stewardship of the environment which 

sustains us all. 

A Commerce Department agency, NOAA 

provides these services through five major organizations: the National Weather Service, 

National Ocean Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, Office of 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, and numerous special program units. In addition, 

NOAA research and operational activities are 

supported by the Nation's seventh uniformed 

service, the NOAA Corps, a commissioned 

officer corps of 400 men and women who operate NOAA ships and aircraft, and serve in 

scientific and administrative posts. 

For further information, contact: NOAA Office of PublicAffairs, Room 6013, Herbert Clark 

Hoover Building, Washington, D.C. 20230. 

Phone: (202) 482-6090; Fax (202) 482-3154. 

47 
J 

About the NMFS 

~e National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). an NMFS serves as caretaker for many marine species NMFS plays a key role in safeguarding the health of 

agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad­ protected under the Endangered Species Act and the the nation's seafood consumers by assisting industry's 

ministration (NOAA) within the Department of Com­ Marine Mammal Protection Act. Some species of dol­ production of wholesome, quality products. Together 

merce (DOC), is responsible for the conservation of phins, whales, seals, sea lions, sea turtles, and (in­ with the Food and DrugAdministration, NMFS inspects 

living marine resources and the protection of marine creasingly) stocks of Pacific salmon have declined in hundreds of processing plants, distributors, and vesmammals, endangered marine species, and the habi­ abundance so much that their future existence is now sels, and works cooperatively with other nations to entats on which they depend. in jeopardy. NMFS works to recover these depleted sure that both domestic and imported fish and shellfish 

The nearly 2,000 men and women of NMFS have resources, protecting species from activities that are safe to eat. 

some of the most challenging and exciting work in the threaten their safety and critical habitat. Since many U.S. stocks of marine animals are shared 

Federal Government: managing America's ocean fish­ The continuing and alarming loss of U.S. wetlands with other countries, Congress has approved internaeries, guarding protected species and coastal habitat, due to development, pollution, subsidence, and dredg­ tional treaties and agreernents to conserve and manand ensuring the quality and safety of the nation's sea­ ing seriously jeopardizes fisheries productivity. NMFS age these resources. NMFS fishery managers and scifood products. monitors and protects the health of the nation's abun­ entists are key participants in many worldwide 

The 1976 extension of U.S. Jurisdiction to 200 miles dant coastal habitats-estuarine marshes, coral reefs, organizations such as the International Whaling Comfrom shore ushered in the era of modern American fish­ seagrass beds, and mangroves-that are vitally impor- mission, International Commission for the Conservaery management. It also opened the tion ofAtlantic Tunas, Inter-American 

door to increased demand for U.S. Tropical Tuna Commission, Internafishery resources and led to strong tional Council for Exploration of the 

Serving Nationwide growth of the domestic fishing fleet. Seas, Pacific Halibut Commission, 

U.S. fisheries are extremely valu­ Convention for the Conservation of 

able, contributing over $25 billion 

annually to the nation's economy. Additional economic benefits are 

Headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, 

near the Nation's capitol, NMFS carries out 

its duties in five regions: Northeast, Southeast (including the U.S. Caribbean), Southimportant work is conducted at the 24 NMFS 

laboratories which collect fisheries statistics, 

periorm resource and environmental surveys, 

study the biology and population structures 

Antarctic Marine Living Resources, 

MEXUS-Gulf and MEXUS-Pacifico, 

and many others. 

derived from subsistence fishing by west (including Hawaii and U.S. South Pa­ of marine species, analyze the ecosystems NMFS counts on many partners to 

Native American groups, from aqua­ cific territories), Northwest, and Alaska. that control the abundance and distribution help conserve and manage living maculture, and from recreational Regions work with the Fishery Management of living marine resources, and investigate rine resources. It works closely with 

viewing, such as "fish watching" on Councils, made up of representatives of state contaminants of the nation's seafood supply. industry, with hundreds of Federal, 

coral reefs. Nearly 300,000 men and governments, commercial and recreational NMFS Science Centers work closely with state, academic, and environmental 

women are full-time workers inAmeri­ fisheries, and environmental and consumer other NOAA units-the National Ocean Ser­ organizations, and with rnany Native 

can commercial fisheries, and nearly groups, to develop and implement Fishery vice, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Re­ Arnerican groups. Guidance is pro100,000 commercial fishing craft an­ Management Plans for all species under Fed­ search, National Weather Service, NOAA vided by the Federal Marine Fishernually ply U.S. waters. In addition, eral control. Regions also conduct important Corps, Coastal Ocean Program, Climate and ies Advisory Comrnittee (MAFAC), 

the opportunity for saltwater angling 

adds to the quality of life for over 17 

million Americans. 

NMFS, together with eight Reeconomic analyses of the nation's fisheries. 

Each NMFS Regional Office is served by 

a Science and Research Center that conducts 

the studies necessary to support management 

decisions. Research that contributes to this 

Global Change Program, and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information 

Service-to carry out NOAA's mission of monitoring, recording, and predicting changes in 

the Earth's oceans and atmosphere. 

representing comrnercial and recreational fishing interests and fishery 

management agencies, the three interstate Marine Fisheries Commisgional Fishery Management Councils sions (Atlantic States, Gulf States, 

and the coastal states, manages and Pacific), conservation groups, 

U.S. fisheries under the authority of and acadernia. NMFS encourages 

the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management tant to living marine resources. Together with NOAA's the active interest of the American public in conserving 

Act, the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, and many National Ocean Service and General Counsel, NMFS and protecting its ocean heritage. If you would like 

other Federal statutes. Together with the states and shares management of NOAA's Damage Assessment rnore inforrnation about NMFS prograrns or activities, 

the U.S. Coast Guard, NMFS also operates a stringent and Restoration Program, which works to mitigate write: Office of Public Affairs, National Marine Fisherprogram to enforce fisheries and protected species coastal habitat damage resulting from oil and chemical ies Service, NOAA, 1335 East-West Highway, Silver 

laws. spills and other environmental disasters. Spring, MD 20910. 

I
 

48