No. 3 (1921) MANUFACTURE OF FISH OIL AND GUANO IQ/ 



I per cent of edible fish shall " immediately open the net and turn 

 loose such food fish while yet alive, " though herring caught in 

 pound nets may be used for the purpose ; moreover, any one having 

 in possession more than I per cent of food-fish among menhaden 

 caught for the purpose of manufacturing guano and oil, shall be 

 fined not less than 1,000 or more than 3,000 dollars (Rs. 3,000 and 

 Rs. 9^000), and shall suffer revocation of his licence for the season ; 

 the licence, by the way, costs 100 dollars (Rs. 300) per annum in 

 all States. 



On this point paragraph 6 from the Madras Fisheries Annual 

 Report for 1913-14 is relevant: — 



" It may here be well to mention a point of importance, viz., the 

 apparent economic sin of turning these fish, so valuable as food, into a 

 soil fertilizer. At first sight it seems wrong (and the sentiment has been 

 reflected in previous reports) that good nourishing human food should be 

 turned into manure. But there are considerations which, especially in the 

 tropics, put a different complexion on the matter: (i), that with the 

 present means at disposal, or at all events under indigenous methods of 

 curing, th^ masses of sardine which are sometimes caught in vast quantities 

 within a few hours, cannot be turned into safe and wholesome food (espe- 

 cially when the fish is very oily) owing to the rapidity of tainting and the 

 paucity of labour, so that the turning of the fish into fertilizer either as 

 guano or as dried fish manure, is a necessity ; (2) that when the fish is not 

 oily it is of inferior value as food ; (3) that when fish is deprived of its 

 oil (itself a very valuable commodity) oris non-oily, the residue or mass if 

 skilfully applied as a soil fertilizer, produces more human nutriment in the 

 shape of cereals, etc., than if it were consumed directly, as fish. Hence 

 the method of reducing fat fish to oil and guano, or the lean 6sh to 

 ordinary manure, do2s not necessarily deprive the country of food, but 

 increases the total supply and yields an economic and industrial gain." 



Oils. 



90. Quantity and yield. — As regards menhaden oil in the United 

 States the yield has been mentioned above, paragraphs 8 and 37 ; 

 on a collation of all available figures the average percentage 

 yield on all parts of the coast and over a long series of years taken 

 together, amounts to about 5 per cent on the weight of the fresh 

 fish, it being very noteworthy that by far the larger percentages 

 are on the northern coasts and the smaller in the tropical and sub- 

 tropical waters of Virginia, Carolina, etc. Moreover, the annual 



