The United States Fish Commission, formally known as the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, was an agency of the United States government created in 1871 to investigate, promote, and preserve the fisheries of the United States. In 1903, it was reorganized as the United States Bureau of Fisheries, sometimes referred to as the United States Fisheries Service, which operated until 1940. In 1940, the Bureau of Fisheries was abolished when its personnel and facilities became part of the newly created Fish and Wildlife Service, under the United States Department of the Interior.
Organizational history
U.S. Fish Commission (1871–1903) By the 1860s, increasing human pressure on the fish and game resources of the United States had become apparent to the United States government, and fisheries became the first aspect of the problem to receive U.S. government attention when Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, a Democratic congressmen from New York's 4th Congressional District, originated a bill in the United States House of Representatives to create the U.S. Fish Commission. It was established by a joint resolution (16 Stat. 593) of the United States Congress on February 9, 1871, as an independent agency of the U.S. government with a mandate to investigate the causes for the decrease of commercial fish and other aquatic animals in the coastal and inland waters of the United States, to recommend remedies to the U.S. Congress and the states, and to oversee restoration efforts. With a budget of US$5,000, it began operations in 1871, organized to engage in scientific, statistical, and economic investigations of U.S. fisheries to study the "decrease of the food fishes of the seacoasts and to suggest remedial measures." An expansion of the Fish Commission's mission followed quickly, when insistence by the American Fish Culturalist Association spurred the Congress in 1872 to add fish culture to the Fish Commission's responsibilities, with an appropriation of US$15,000 to establish fish hatcheries for the propagation of food fishes along the seacoasts and in the lakes of the United States. Following this change, the commission was organized into three divisions: the Division of Inquiry respecting Food-Fishes and Fishing Grounds, the Division of Fisheries, and the Division of Fish-Culture. The commission was led first by Spencer F. Baird, then George Brown Goode, Marshall McDonald, John J. Brice, and finally George M. Bowers.
U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (1903–1940) By an Act of Congress of February 14, 1903, the U.S. Fish Commission became part of the newly created United States Department of Commerce and Labor and was reorganized as the United States Bureau of Fisheries, with both the transfer and the name change effective on July 1, 1903. In 1913, the Department of Commerce and Labor was divided into the United States Department of Commerce and the United States Department of Labor, and the Bureau of Fisheries became part of the new Department of Commerce. Bowers led the Bureau of Fisheries, followed by Hugh McCormick Smith, Henry O'Malley, and finally Frank T. Bell. In 1939, the Bureau of Fisheries was transferred to the United States Department of the Interior, and on June 30, 1940, it merged with the Interior Department's Bureau of Biological Survey to form the new Fish and Wildlife Service, an element of the Interior Department.
Successor organizations In 1956, the Fish and Wildlife Service was reorganized as the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and divided its operations into two bureaus, the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, with the latter inheriting the history and heritage of the old U.S. Fish Commission and U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. Upon the formation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the Department of Commerce on October 3, 1970, the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries merged with the saltwater laboratories of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife to form today's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), an element of NOAA, and the former Bureau of Commercial Fisheries' research ships were resubordinated to the NMFS. During 1972 and 1973, these ships were integrated with those of other parts of NOAA to form the unified NOAA fleet. The NMFS is considered the modern-day successor to the U.S. Fish Commission and U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and the NOAA fleet of today also traces its history in part to them.
Activities The U.S. Fish Commission and U.S. Bureau of Fisheries carried out extensive investigations of the fishes, shellfish, marine mammals, and other life in the rivers, lakes, and marine waters of the United States and its territories, and its scientists corresponded widely with marine researchers around the world. The two agencies also scrutinized fishing technologies and designed, built, and operated hatcheries for a wide variety of finfish and shellfish. In the early 1900s the Bureau of Fisheries took on the responsibility for the enforcement of fishery and sealing regulations in Alaska, as well as for managing the harvest of fur-brearing animals in the Pribilof Islands and supporting the welfare of the Aleut communities of the Pribilofs. Both the Fish Commission and the Bureau of Fisheries operated a fleet of ships and boats for research, law enforcement, and transportation purposes.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
