No. 3 (1921) MANUFACTURE OF FISH OIL AND GUANO I5I 



methods of dealing with this fish will be detailed for comparative 

 purposes. Most of the particulars are obtained from United States 

 publications, notably a paper by Mr. Charles H. Stevenson on 

 "Fish oils, fats and waxes, and fertilizers from aquatic products 

 (1898) ", etc., a paper by Mr. R. Leon Greer on " The Menhaden 

 industry of the Atlantic Coast (1917) " and trade papers. 



8. These fish are found all along the Atlantic Coast from Maine 

 (one factory) to Florida (one factory) but are greatly more numerous 

 off the coast of Virginia and Carolina which, in 1912, had 31 out of 

 the 48 oil and guano factories and dealt with more than half the 

 total number of fish. It is found that the yield of oil not only 

 varies greatly on the different parts of the coast, but also at 

 different seasons and in different years. For instance, as might 

 be expected, the fish of the northern (colder) waters, are much 

 fatter than those of the south both as to maximum and average 

 yields: as much as 20 U.S.A. gallons or about 146 lb., from 

 666 lb. fish or 22 per cent, have been obtained in northern waters 

 in summer months, and 120 lb. or 19 per cent as an average for 

 a month ; in the Middle Atlantic States the best yield would be 

 about 15 per cent, while for South Atlantic fish the maximum would 

 be about 9 per cent, and in spring little more than I percent. The 

 average yield of the 1912 season was 13 per cent in the northern 

 waters, decreasing southward steadily to 12, 8, 4, and 2 per cent 

 according to latitude. Even in the same locality the fish are much 

 fatter in some years than in others ; in one year the yield in one 

 locality was at the rate of about 7 per cent while next year it was 

 little over 2 per cent. In one notable case no less than 50 per cent 

 of oil was obtained ; this was. due to a quantity of fish being 

 enclosed during autumn, which is the best season, in a bay which 

 yielded vast quantities of suitable food. These facts have con- 

 siderable bearing on West Coast results ; the oil sardine is at 

 its fattest immediately after the south-west monsoon, viz., from 

 August to, say, December, and it is therefore probable that their 

 fatness is due to the abundant feeding in the coastal waters due to 

 the quantities of suitable food directly or indirectly provided by 

 the numerous rivers which during and for some time after the 

 monsoon, pour vast floods of wash from the forests and cultivated 

 lands into the shallow waters of the coast. Moreover, since 

 Indian waters are tropical it is to be expected that the yield of oil 

 will more or less correspond with the lower (southern) rates off the 



