UC San Diego Library – Scripps Digital Collection

In June, 1917, the California Fish and Game Commission inaugurated scientific investigations of commercially important fishes of southern California. The writer, who is at present in charge of the investigations, has been asked many questions regarding the purpose of the work, and he has come to realize the necessity of an outline to which the various lines of research may be referred and thus understood. However, it is difficult to tell into what fields the pursuit of truth will lead in the case of each investigation, and it will be found that in this paper resort has been had to the statement of aims in terms which are perhaps applicable to fisheries research in general, rather than to that of the albacore in particular, the fish now being studied. The formulation is frankly tentative, due to the chaotic state of the branch of fisheries research concerned, and it is hoped that further experience will correct errors and enable clearer conceptions to arise.