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Former U. S. Government fisheries agency

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.

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 Yorks 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." The commission was led first by Spencer F. Baird, 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.

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.

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.

From 1871 to 1903, the commission's Annual Report to Congress detailed its efforts and findings in all of these areas. In 1880, it began to collect, analyze, and publish fishery statistics. From 1881 to 1903, the commission also published an annual Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission summarizing the commission's Annual Report to Congress and correspondence; the bulletins included detailed catch reports from fishermen and commercial fishing port agents around the United States and Canada, reports and letters from naturalists and fish researchers around the United States and in other countries, and descriptions of the commission's exploratory cruises and fish hatchery efforts. Beginning in 1884, the Commission published the seminal work The Fisheries and Fisheries Industries of the United States. The commission's research stations and surveys collected significant data on U. S. fish and fishing grounds, with considerable material going to the Smithsonian Institution. and fishery products utilization research and publishing a wide variety of research results in the Bureau's Fisheries Service Bulletin — published monthly from June 1915 until December 1940 In 1937, the Bureau organized the Fishery Market News Service, which supported the U. S. commercial fishing industry by collecting and circulating information from widely scattered fisheries centers around the United States on fishery production, receipts, supply and demand, market prices, cold storage holdings, and imports and exports. and the 90 feet (27 m) sailing schooner USFC Grampus, which was commissioned in 1886 and operated as a fisheries research ship until 1917. The Bureau of Fisheries inherited these ships in 1903 and continued to operate a research fleet for a time, but it decommissioned its last true seagoing research ship, USFS Albatross II, in 1932, and when the Fish and Wildlife Service was created in 1940, it inherited no research vessels from the Bureau of Fisheries. The U. S. Government did not operate another fisheries research vessel until the Fish and Wildlife Service commissioned in 1948. The Edenton Station hatchery, established in 1899, is na example of a hatchery constructed by the Fish Commission prior to 1900. To supplement the hatcheries, the Fish Commission commissioned the steamer USFC Fish Hawk in 1880. Purpose built as a floating fish hatchery, she was intended to follow the seasonal runs of American shad up and down the coast of the United States, in addition to carrying out fisheries research duties. By order of the United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor on February 15, 1905, the Bureau of Fisheries received the responsibility for administering and enforcing laws protecting the Alaskan salmon fishery. On June 14, 1906, the U. S. Congress passed the Alien Fisheries Act to protect and regulate fisheries in Alaska by placing restrictions on the use of fishing tackle and on cannery operations there and authorizing the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries to enforce these regulations as well. – beginning a custom of naming the boats after birds common in Alaska The Alaska enforcement fleet increased further in 1919 with four former United States Navy patrol vessels (USFS Kittiwake, USFS Merganser, USFS Petrel, and USFS Widgeon) transferred to the Bureau's Alaska fleet, and in 1925 the Bureau established a district headquarters at the Naknek River for the Bristol Bay district and began to acquire a flotilla of motor launches to operate on the rivers, steams, and lakes in that area. The stream watchmen sometimes provided their own motorboats. The aerial patrols were successful, and regular aerial patrols by Bureau of Fisheries agents using chartered aircraft began in 1930. on January 1, 1960, the State of Alaska assumed full responsibility for fishery protection in its waters. as well as for the care, education, and welfare of the Aleut communities in the islands, to the Bureau of Fisheries. she was followed by from 1919 to 1930, and , which began operations in 1930. The operation of "Pribilof tenders" continued under the Bureau of Fisheries′ successor organizations, with the Fish and Wildlife Service employing MV Penguin on this service until 1950, , which supplemented Penguin II′s service during the 1950s, and , which entered service in 1963 and continued to serve the Pribilofs after the creation of the NMFS in 1970. The 58 year history of the "Pribilof tenders" did not come to a close until 1975, when the NMFS retired and sold Pribilof as part of a process of turning control of the local government and economy of the Pribilof Islands to their residents.</small>
No. Portrait Name Tenure Notes1Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823–1887)1871–1887Naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist, and museum curator, and the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. The founding commissioner of the Fish Commission, he was highly active in developing fishing and fishery policies for the United States, and was instrumental in making Woods Hole a research venue for marine biology. Died in office.2G. Brown Goode (1851–1896)1887–1888Ichthyologist, museum administrator, and prolific writer who worked for the Fish Commission from 1872 to 1888. From 1873 to 1887 organized and administered the biological and fishery development research of the Fish Commission and ordered and developed the taxonomic and ichthyologic work of both the Fish Commission and the Smithsonian Institution. Left the Fish Commission in 1888 to become an assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.3Marshall McDonald (1835–1895)1888–1895Engineer, geologist, mineralogist, fish culturist, and fisheries scientist. Inventor of the fish ladder and of a number of fish hatching apparatuses. Worked for the Fish Commission from 1879 to 1895. Died in office.–Herbert A. Gill1895–1896The Fish Commission's chief clerk, Gill served as acting commissioner between the death of Marshall McDonald and the arrival of John J. Brice.4John J. Brice (1841–1912)1896–1898Retired United States Navy officer with a sound administrative ability and a keen interest in the propagation of salmon on the United States West Coast. Reoriented the Fish Commission's priorities around the propagation of commercially important species.5George M. Bowers (1863–1925)1898–1913Banker and politician who later represented West Virginia's 2nd district in the United States House of Representatives from 1916 to 1923.6Hugh M. Smith (1865–1941)1913–1922Physician, educator, ichthyologist, and writer who worked for the Fish Commission and Bureau of Fisheries from 1886 to 1922. Directed the Fish Commission's scientific research from 1897 to 1903 and was deputy commissioner of fish and fisheries from 1903 to 1913. After leaving the Bureau, served as the first director general of Thailand′s Department of Fisheries, then as curator of zoology at the Smithsonian Institution.7Henry O'Malley (1876–1936)1922–1933Fish culturist employed by the Fish Commission and Bureau of Fisheries from 1897 to 1934. Noted for his leadership as commissioner in protecting the American fishing industry and fish spawning grounds, especially the rehabilitation of depleted fishery resources in the Columbia River and the Territory of Alaska, as well as Alaska's fur seal resources. 8PhotoFrank T. Bell (1883–1970)1933–1939Hotel and restaurant owner and operator who was politically active and an avid recreational fisherman and hunter with an interest in nature conservation. Successful as commissioner in making the Bureau of Fisheries more efficient and in increasing cooperation on fishery issues among United States government agencies and between them and U. S. state governments.–Charles E. Jackson1939–1940Deputy Commissioner Jackson served as acting commissioner between the departure of Frank T. Bell and the abolition of the Bureau of Fisheries.