5. Fishery research: Fiscal year 1970, $4,410,000; fiscal year 1971, $4,674,000; increase, $264,000. The increase consists of:

(1) Two permanent positions at an average annual rate of $10,000, $20,000; seasonal labor (2 man-years) $10,000; increased operating expenses and program costs, $20,000.

(2) Three permanent positions at an average annual rate of $14,000, $42,000; seasonal labor (1.3 man-years) $8,000; new operating expenses and program costs, $25,000.

(3) Three permanent positions at an average annual rate of $10,000, $30,000; seasonal labor (3 man-years) $15,000; program costs including vessel charter $30,000.

(4) Two permanent positions at an average annual rate of $10,000, $20,000; program costs including contracted research $30,000.

(5) Stand-by duty pay at four laboratories and one field station, $14,000. Need for increase: (1) Eastern Fish Nutrition Laboratory, Cortland, New York $50,000 and 2 permanent positions. The increase is needed for added operating costs of new facilities and a start on the expanded operations for which the new facilities were provided. The new laboratory, completed in September 1969, requires more funds to operate for heat, light and custodial services -- than the smaller laboratory which it replaced. In addition to continuing studies on the nutritional requirements and the physiology and metabolism of trouts, a new study on the effects of environmental factors on trout growth will be started.

(2) Eastern Gulf Marine Laboratory, Panama City, Florida - $75,000 and 3 permanent positions. These funds will be used for operation of the new facility to be completed in F.Y. 1970. In addition to providing for operation and maintenance, funds will permit hiring the nucleus staff; small billfish and estuarine studies will be carried on, and a 42-foot research vessel will be operated.

(3) Tiburon Marine Laboratory, Tiburon, California $75,000 and 3 permanent positions. These funds are for studies of the marine game fishes of the California Current. The program will determine predator-prey relationships, seasonal movement and occurrence of the game fish and their forage, and the extent and seasonality of the offshore sport fishery (to be coordinated with the Narragansett Marine Game Fish Laboratory statistics program) of the California Current ecosystem. In addition,a study of the cold water reef sport fisheries of the northern coastal areas will be initiated. With these added programs, our effectiveness in providing information leading toward better management of Pacific marine game fishes will be substantially increased.

(4) Narragansett Marine Game Fish Laboratory, Rhode Island - $50,000 and two permanent positions. These funds are needed for the marine game fish statistics program. The methods currently in use and the statistics now being collected will be evaluated and a contract proposal will be solicited for research leading to the development of uniform methods for collecting marine game fish statistics. Methods developed will be capable of management by the States with a possible coordinate role played by the Bureau. From this study will come the economic baseline on which decisions concerning management of marine game fishes depend.

(5) Standby duty - $14,000. Standby duty pay for permanent employees at four laboratories and at one field station, remaining in on offical duty status beyond normal work hours.

Program of work: The estimate of $4,674,000 provides for a broadly based fishery research program whose objective is to provide the new knowledge needed for the development of improved methods of managing sport fishery resources. Fishery managers seek to improve sport fishing by making maximum use of the natural productive capacity of waters and, when necessary, supplement natural production with hatchery produced fish. Improvement in the former calls for knowledge about the fish and the web of life it interacts within its environment--i.e., the fish ecosystem. Improvements in the latter call for knowledge of a different sort--the husbandry sciences, nutrition, diseases, genetics, and the technologies associated with these basic sciences--all of which bear on the extensive, artificial rearing of animals. In addition to these research areas, the fishery manager, and all officials responsible for control of environmental pollution, need information concerning the unintended but adverse consequences of pesticide usage on the sport fishery resource so that proper regulations can be established.

The $4,674,000 is budgeted to these three research activities as follows:

Fish ecosystem research. The program of work in fish ecosystems includes freshwater reservoir and marine research. The reservoir program is located on the Missouri River in South Dakota, and on the White River in Arkansas and Missouri. The research conducted includes studies of life histories, population dynamics, and environmental requirements of reservoir fishes and the food organisms on which they

depend. Research on marine game fish includes studies of the effect of temperature and currents on the well-being and distribution of fishes; natural history of bluefish, weakfishes, big game sharks and billfishes; ecology of artificial reefs; marine game fish diseases; behavior of various marine species under both controlled and natural situations; experimental aquiculture; and environmental studies in estuaries or on the continental shelf. Billfish and certain other marine big game fish studies are also carried out in international and foreign waters.

Fish husbandry research. is a comprehensive program of laboratory and outdoor investigations that aim toward the determination of the most efficaceous and least costly means of producing large numbers of high quality warm- and cold-water fish in the hatchery, and toward matching the fish to the environment so that the greatest utility will be realized when the fish are distributed. Research includes studies of nutritional requirements; disease control; genetics and selective breeding; environmental requirements; and fish cultural methods.

Pest control research. The pest control research program includes two separate but similar elements. One group studies the effects of pesticides on fish and the aquatic environment, and the second develops methods of controlling fish that are pests or techniques for managing the sport fishery. Pesticide research includes studies of acute toxicity of newly developed pesticides; long-term effects of exposure to sub-lethal levels of pesticides; the persistence and significance of pesticide residues; techniques for predicting effects of pesticide use; and methods for detoxification of harmful residues. These studies assist in developing guidelines for minimizing hazards, instituting responsible pest control regulations, and in gaining greater awareness and acceptance for regulation of pesticide usage. The objective of the second element, fish control research, is to develop safe, economical methods of controlling or managing fish populations. Although the program includes physical, chemical, and biological methods, primary emphasis is now placed on developing chemical methods for removal of unwanted species that compete with or prey on the more desirable game fishes. Additional efforts are directed toward gaining the information needed for the registration and labeling of other chemicals needed in fishery management. In addition to pisicides these include aquatic herbicides, anesthetics, attractants, repellents, and therapeutic drugs.

Examples of recent accomplishments. The subject of environmental degradation is engaging the minds and consciences of the American people now more than at any time in the past 50 years. Air and water pollution, the disposal of domestic and industrial wastes, and the drastic alterations of the nation's coastal region collide with water-based recreation and fish husbandry.

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all these

The Bureau's fishery research has contributed to the fund of information leading to establishment of State and Federal regulations for protection or re-establishment of clean waters; to successful public and private fish husbandry; and to understanding the long-term consequences of pesticidal applications.

Research results are available to resource and environmental managers through scientific literature. In 1968, 301 Bureau research reports were presented, published, or accepted for publication.

Examples of specific accomplishments in the three major fields of fishery research follow:

Fish Ecosystem Research. The National Reservoir Research Program has developed a data bank on sport fish harvest and reservoir characteristics. ADP analysis of these data is enabling fish management personnel to approach reservoir sport fishery management with confidence.

The airborne infrared temperature survey passed from the research phase to routine and was handed over to the U. S. Coast Guard for continuation. The surface temperature data derived from these flights are used by fishermen to locate good fishing.