 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 the 1972 and 1973, these ships were integrated with those of other parts of NOAA to form the unified NOAA fleet.