Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-07

| the dread Sargasso-Kins Neptune's
graveyard--or the icy wastes of the
| Arctic is regarded simply i'll line of
| public duty.
Equally hazardous is the job of run
ming down bootleggers of fish in Alas
! kan waters, where drastic Federal
laws are enforced to save the fishing
| industry from depletion. \ fleet OF -
vessels, manned by employees OF the
| Bureau of Fisheries, patrols these
! waters. seiZins traps, boats and other
| equipment used i'll violation OF the
! law.
DR.. and Mrs. G. J. Fish of the Blu
reau OF Fisheries We're members Of the
| Beebe expedition. which last year
made extensive observations in the
region of the SargaSsO Sea and III the
| Pacific Ocean between Central Amer
| lea and the Galapagos Islands. These
scientists had charge of the work in
! physical and chemical oceanoGraphN
| and made Investigations which yield
! ed valuable INFORMATION of the life his
| tory of many important fishes.
! DR.. Walter koelZ, aquatic Biologists
: of the bureau. accumpam- Il the Mac
! MILAN expedition which explored III"
/ region north of Greenland. He made 4
; collection of fishes. The biological
! studies of which are expected t" throw
! new light on the sources Of the Ma
/ These and other Government experts
when not at sea may he found in d
! laboratory at tie Bureau Of Fisheries
! here or at one of the many fish hatch
/ cries and field stations that have been
; established the country over. The
Washington laboratory is said to ba
! the most completely equipped in the
world. II contains smokehouSes, cool
! ing chambers, drying ovens. Il large
coli NH xstTN..i
used in studying all forms of marine
! l:fe.
| You viii find scientists in this labora-
| tory studying the scales Of fishes, de-
veloDinG new methods of handling fish
| for market, or examining microscopic
ORGANISMS. such plankton, which
are the basic food supply for all ma
rine life \ complete knowledge Of
! the occurrence OF plankton in ocean
areas. their movements and the ph'',;j-
cal factors governing them is essen
! tial in studies of the sources OF tn
Nations fish supply. An area barren
in plankton can support few fish.
other laboratory Investigations deal
with the utilization of shark skins fo,'
shoe leather, pOcketbookS and novel
ties. Rec ant tests AT the Bureau %
Standards showed that shark leather
: is equal in quality 10 fine grades Of
calf leather. \ tannery in New Jersey
j. now manufacturing large quantiti"'
OF shark leather for use in children;
shoes and other articles.
4 bureau investigator recently de
signed apparatus for air-drying sar.
dimes. a method which eliminates in
digestible oils from the product and
hich is expected TO reVolutioniZe the
canned sardine industry.
All forms of fish. both fresh and pre-
served. are high in iodine content. ii
has been learned. and increased CON
sumption of fish is urged 10y the hu-
reau. The iilletinG of fish has proved
to be a practical method of marchan-
disinS in the so-called Goiterous belts.
I where the iodine content of the water
and foods is below normal
To reha bi.itate these depleted fish
. fists are doing in an effort to save
the Potomac shad industry from eX-
tinction is of especial concern to Wash
I ington residents The shad catch here
! has decreased from 5000 900 pounds
! in 1922 To less than 600 900 pounds in
! 1924, and there is growing fear that
the industry may go the way of that
on the Hudson River. New York. where
pounds in 1900 TO around sc, 600 pounds
| III 1924.
Everlasting is charged as being
mainly responsible for the depletion OF
the shad industry. Weather is also an
! important factor. say the ichthyolo-
Gists, the most favorable condition
that enables large number of the
fish to reach spawning grounds being
cold, backward Spring. Under such
conditions the fish keep to. the main
channel. thus escaping many of the
nets set on the shoals in the lower
bay.
To prevent total depletion Of the in
i dustry OH the Potomac and the loss
of an industry which is valued ut
$200.0 900 to 100000 q year, the bu-
reau's fish hatchery at Bryans Point
near Mount Vernon, is Matching from
100000 to 100000 shad eggs
year. The baby fish are turned into
| the river in the Fall to repopulate the
shad family.
Maryland and Virginia became con
cerned recently over the diminishing
supply of Chesapeake Bay crabs. The
Bureau of Fisheries made an inveSti-
cation of the situation, which showed
that whereas the catch in 1915 tutaled
50,00O.000 pounds, the catch in 1924
was only 25.000,000 pounds. The bu-
cean tounQ IflaI the commercial catch
takes 80 per cent of the adult era bS
! out of the water annually. and that
there are heavy losses due to i'm
proper handling methods. A reduc-
ton of 80 per cent in all forms of
crab fishing has been recommended
Stagnant pools resulting from flood
waters on the Potomac are favorable
breeding places for mosquitoes, the
carriers of malaria germs. To cope
with this situation here and through
out the South. the bureau has been
experimenting with small fishes which
feed upon mosquito larvae. The fish,
top minnows, are placed in natural
bodies of water in flood areas, and in
many places have been found more eff
fective in controlling mosquito produc.
ton than the use of oil.
The old saying that there are plen-
ty of fish in the sea- is no longer lit
orally true of many important food
fishes 1t is not true of surgeons,
which have all but disappeared from
coastal and inland water 10 salmon.
which has been entirely minated
in many streams Oh the Atlantic
coast, and the number considerably
reduced on the Pacific coast: halibut.
in smaller numbers on both coasts:
as are shad and mullet of the East
coast; whitefshes and related forms
in the Great Lakes, ana oysters on the
Atlantic coast.
"Overfishing and increasing pollu-
tion of coastal and inland waters are
mainly responsible for this situation"
according to Commissioner Henry
O'Malley of the Bureau of Fisheries
Dams and other Instructions in
rivers reduce the areas available for
spawning, and thousands of young
fish are lost annually through I'M
screened irrigation bitches" -
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