The Nation's first Federal conservation agency, initiated in 1871, was devoted to the protection, study, management, and restoration of fish. This agency was the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, which was usually just called the Fish Commission.

Later it was renamed the Bureau of Fisheries, and still later it became the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. Today its direct descendant is NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) or just NOAA Fisheries.

Woods Hole, as a center of marine science, was conceived and implemented largely by one man, Spencer Fullerton Baird, at that time Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian. He was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1871 as the first U.S. Commissioner of Fisheries.

Fisheries research began in Woods Hole as early as 1871, but a permanent station did not exist until 1885.

Search Fisheries websites for more on Spencer Baird

Be sure and take a tour of the historical timeline at the top of the page to learn more.