Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-16
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

There may not have been any inten-
tional personal reference when Gen.
Lord, director of the budget, told his
fish story at the meeting Of the Gov
eminent Business Organization, on the
eve of the departure of President Cool
idge for his fishing outing, but the
story must have had point. Accord
ing to the general, there was fine big
tarpon preserved in glass case-so
magnificent a fish that skeptic,
when he gaZed upon it's measure
ments. declared with finality in his
voice, 1.-THE man who caught that tlsh
is a prevaricator!"
The application the budget story
teller made of his tarpon is forgotten,
but no matter. Fish is a great BRAIN
food, and 1t takes a very smart man
to be a consistent liar: hence the
menace which now confrOnts the
world in the increasing scarcity OF fish.
II it keeps on decreasing the phos-
phorus food supply, what will become
of us amateur prevaricators? Let the
professionals look to their laurels! No
wonder the world views with alarm
the vanishing cattle of the sea-" Just
as time wiped out the unnumbered
herds of buffalo which, century ago,
darkened the Western plains in SEEM
li1S NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. supply 81 OIu
oceans gray and melancholy waste"
is in danger of losing its roaming
denizens OF the sea forests and plains,
and becoming a desert, indeed.
x x y
A quarter of century ago, there
met at Copenhagen the first gathering
of an international council for the ex-
ploration of the sea, promoted and
subsidized by all the governments of
Europe. Civilization was alarmed by
the situation of the fisheries. A few
days ago, the same council met at
Stockholm, taking account Of the re-
suits of it's % years OF research and
exploration.
A preliminary meeting had been
held in Stockholm in 1899, when a
tentative program consisting of a
course Of research and study of natu-
raj history and photography of the
oceans chiefly centered in the North
Sea, because the initiative had been
taken by Scandinavians. Little was
then known as to how the waters
were stratit1ed as to temperature and
salinity; nor about the flow of ocean
currents, nor of how they carried
their vast cargoes Of fish out from the
Baltic Sea or from the Atlantic into
the North Sea. nor how the presence
of certain fish varied according to
seasons.
For years ships of the several ma.
lions, working comparatively in their
exploring of currents and other
phenomena. compiled vast data as to
temperatures of the water and its
chemistry and biology. The combined
story foretold Of fish famine forever
flraQ faninO nNF
then men were harvesting annually
from the Baltic and North Atlantic no
less than 100000 tons of fish. Today
we are still gathering about the same
amount, but the money value is dou-
BILE that of two decades ago; it is
estimated at 50,000,000 pounds sterling
year-a quarter of a billion dollars.
Some fish show a serious diminished
INDEPENDENTLY the varieties OF
founder, and other kinds which never
wander far from their natural
habitats. Herring are as plentiful as
ever. The council Is now studying
what to do to replenish the founder,
which includes the sole and plaice.
I When one compares the 100000
tons of fish obtained from merely the
limited area of the waters surround
ing the British Isles and Scandinavia
with an equal weight of meat pro-
duced on farms, and then considers
what the Ash of all the world must
mean in nourishment of mankind. 1t
is easy to realize the Importance of
the scientific investigation as to how
to conserve this food resource. While
the exploration by the council has not
extended to American waters, the
United States Bureau Of Fisheries has
been represented by q delegate to the
council. Many Of its problems apply
conditions.
Since 1871 the Bureau Of Fisheries
has been studying the diminution Of
food fishes of the coast waters and
lakes Of the United states. This In.