Download gations included ecological and biological

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BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES
tions are available in the town of Oxford
within walking distance of the Laboratory,
which is situated on the Tred Avon River
one mile south of the town.
Oxford is 10 miles west of Easton, Maryland. Interstate buses connect Easton with
all sections of the country. Baltimore,
Maryland, and Washington, D. C. are the
nearest rail and air terminals, and Easton
can be reached by bus from both cities.
The staff is composed of 12 professional
scientists and an equal number of supporting aids and technicians.
A small substation (3,000 square feet of
Kureau of Commercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory, Oxford, Maryland
floor space), located on a seaside bay, Chincoteague, at Franklin City, Virginia, congations included ecological and biological tains most of the facilities listed for the
surveys, precise area population studies, Oxford Laboratory. The salinity is oceanic
and general hydrographical observations. (32 °/oo) most of the time. There are no
More recently, studies of factors affecting re- accommodations for extended research by
production, growth, survival, recruitment, visiting investigators, although scientists
and genetics were added to the program of are invited to use the laboratory as a startresearch. Strong emphasis is given to re- ing place for field collection trips. It is
search on problems of shellfish mortalities, isolated and not accessible by public carincluding identification, life histories, con- rier.
trol of predators, micropathogens, and the
Boats equipped for general hydrographeffects of environmental changes.
ical and biological sampling are assigned to
There are other mollusks and crusta- each laboratory.
ceans of commercial significance in this
Address the Director, Bureau of Comarea. In Chesapeake Bay the soft clam Mya mercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory,
arennria, the hard clam Mercenaria mcr- P. O. Box 278, Oxford, Maryland.
cenaria, and the blue crab Callinectes sapidus, are harvested commercially in conBIOLOGICAL LABORATORY,
siderable quantity.
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
The Laboratory is located on a typical
estuary with a salinity range from fresh to
Dr. James W. Moffelt, Director
oceanic water. It is an excellent breeding,
This laboratory, located about 40 miles
nursery, and feeding ground for many
sport and commercially important fishes. west of Detroit, near the intersection of
In the ocean adjacent to this area and in highways 1-94 and US-23, can be reached
seaside bays, are surf clams (Spisula solidis- by bus, railroad, or via commercial airlines
sima), hard clams, crabs, and many fish to Detroit Willow Run or Metropolitan airspecies of recreational and commercial im- ports. Field biological stations are located
portance.
in Wisconsin at Ashland; in Ohio at SanFloor space of 10,000 square feet includes dusky; and in Michigan at Ludington,
laboratory facilities for chemical, micro- Marquette, Millersburg, and Northville.
biological, and physiological research. Run- Field activities are supported by three rening sea water is available in some rooms. search vessels, 45 to 60 feet long — the
A limited amount of space is available for motor vessels Cisco, Siscowet, and Musky
visiting investigators. Living accommoda- II.
BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES
v vac
Architect's sketch of Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, Michigan
The Great Lakes have a connected water
area of 95,170 square miles. Each lake
stratifies thermally and has at least partial
ice cover in winter. Other physical, chemical, and biological characteristics vary
widely among the five lakes and to a large
extent within each of them. The deepest
and largest, Lake Superior, has an average
depth of 487 feet (maximum, 1,333); an
area of 31,820 square miles; average maximum surface water temperature, 66°F; dissolved solids, 60 p.p.m.; and an annual
commercial fish production of less than 1
pound per acre. Corresponding data for
Lake Erie, the shallowest, are: average
depth, 58 feet (maximum 210); area, 9,930
square miles; average maximum surface
water temperature, 78°F; dissolved solids
about 200 p.p.m.; and average fish production about 7 pounds per acre. Fishes
produced in the Great Lakes are primarily
from the genera Coregonus, Perca, Slizostedion, Salvelinus, and in recent years,
Osmenis; total commercial production
(U. S. and Canada) is seldom less than
100,000,000 pounds per year.
Federal research in fisheries and limnology on the Great Lakes has been continuous since establishment of the laboratory
in 1927. Since its inception, the work has
been carried out in close cooperation with
the University of Michigan, and the facility's headquarters have been on the University campus. The original small staff
has increased to a current full-time complement of 90, of whom 50 are fishery biologists.
The laboratory's biological research is
directed primarily toward development of
a basic understanding of Great Lakes fish
stocks — the life history, ecology, and interrelations of different species; factors of fluctuations in growth and abundance; and
the effects of the environment and of varying rates of exploitation. Since 1949, a
major portion of the effort has been concerned with studies of the effects of predation by the sea lamprey, Petromyzon mari?ius, on fishes in Lakes Superior, Huron,
and Michigan; the development of
methods for its control; the experimental
application of control methods; and the
rehabilitation of stocks of lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush, which the sea lamprey
brought to commercial extinction. A
second major field of study has been the
relation of recent pronounced changes in
the limnology of certain waters and the
accompanying major shifts of species
abundance.
Address the Director, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory,
1220 East Washington Street, P. O. Box
640, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY,
AUKE BAY, ALASKA
Dr. George Y. Harry, Director
This laboratory serves as research headquarters for the Bureau in Alaska. It is
located in Southeastern Alaska 12 miles
north of Juneau, the State Capital. Completed in 1960, the two-story building
houses facilities for controlled experiments
relating to the biology and physiology of
fish and shellfish in fresh and salt water.
Nearby Auke Lake and Mendenhall Lake
serve as natural fresh-water experimental
areas, while adjacent Auke Bay is used for
estuarine studies.
The Laboratory also houses a growing
reference collection of over 300 species of
fresh- and salt-water fishes and shellfishes
native to Alaskan waters. Other facilities
include a comprehensive scientific library,