Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-03-28

bureau of fisheries is doing a work OF
great magnitude in the conservation or
national resources. and frequent refer-
ences to the distribution of millions of
eggs and young fishes by no means
convey an adequate idea OF It's scope.
Government fish culture in America eX-
ceeds in extent and Importance that
of all other countries combined; the
marine biological work of the bureau,
cooperating with Smithsonian and
other scientists, is unsurpassed by that
of any other institution or government,
and the collection of statistics con-
corning the commercial value of the
United States fisheries is supplement
tary task of no mean proportions or
Importance. All this is done with a
force of only 80 employees, So of whom
are on duty in Washington. and "A. at
outside stations and laboratories.
The bureau has fifty-five hatcheries
and sixty-four field stations and the
description OF the hatchery at Bryans
point, Maryland, given in The Sunday
Star recently. furnishes some idea of
the scope of hatchery operations when
il is borne in mind that TINS Is only
one OF fifty-fve similar piscatoriat
nurseries. There are twenty-slx marine
hatcheries on the New England coast
handling mostly lobster or cod; hVe
hatcheries on east coast rivers. includ-
ing the one here. the one al Bryahs
point and one at Havre de Grace
handling shad. yellow perch and other
Indigenous fishes: twenty-five hatch
cries and egg collection stations on the
great lakes, nineteen hatcheries ana
egg collection stations on the Paclfc
coast. two being in Alaska and forty
four hatcheries. egg-collection and
rescue stations in the interior states
The rescue of young and adult fishes
from overlooked lands near the Missis-
sippi river and it's tributaries is pro-
tective measure that Is growing IN Ia
vor. and one OF Commissioner Bowers
aims is the establishment of more sta
tions to carry on this branch of the
bureaus work. During the fiscal year
zoos the bureau OF fisheries allotted
$40 161 $50 eggs to various state COM
missions. and consigned 100000 yell
low perch fry to Connecticut. 1,4II.oD
lobster fry to Massachusetts, 4f,Suo
young trout to Maryland and 5000 to
Nebraska but II distributes by far the
greater portion of the output of the
hatcheries direct, Matching more than
1000. WO.oo0 fry each year II gives
id TO oyster culture by assisting sur
veys in various states and in an ad-
visory capacity and it is at all times
conducting experiments to enlarge the
scope of fish culture. some recent
achievements having been in the ine
of sponge culture and pearl mussel cui.
ture. For transporting the output OF
the hatcheries the bureau has SIX rail-
road cars of special type.
A LEXANDER AGASSIZ, a son of the
\ great Louis AgassiZ. was an assist
ant the coast survey before he be-
came an assistant on the fish commits
sion. and he made many deep-sea explo-
rations on board the Blake, coast sur
vey vessel 1t was the bringing up OF
many strange denizens of the sea by
coast survey officers in the Straits OF
Florida from the comparatively moderate
depth of $50 fathoms. in 1867. that aroused
widespread interest IN deep-sea explora-
tons. and the discoveries made by the
Blake. the Albatross and the Challenger,
English vessel. have ranked among
The most important of all contributions
TO geological knowledge.
The Fish Hawk is another bureau of
fisheries vessel, and while it has not won