46 UNUTILIZED FISHES. 



Nova Scotia, has gone into the business on a large scale, packing some 

 two or three thousand cases in 190G as a beginning, with the expecta- 

 tion of putting out as much as 50,000 cases in 1907. Both tall and 

 flat cans are used, the product labeled " Ocean white-fish." 



Dogfish are so abundant that they can be sold at a profit by the 

 fishermen for half a cent apiece. They can also be packed at small 

 expense. The prepared article may therefore be sold very cheaply 

 and at the same time yield a fair profit. Stevenson (1899) gives a 

 list and description of most of the methods employed for preserving 

 fishery products for food, some of which might well be applied to 

 the dogfishes. A good, dry, salt fish, meat extract, or fish flour ought 

 to be made from them. 



UTILIZATION THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM. 



Attempt has been made to show that the dogfishes really yield 

 products valuable to man. If the effort to convey this idea has suc- 

 ceeded, it now remains for some enterprising firms to undertake the 

 business of utilizing these fishes in one or more ways. If the Cape 

 Breton pioneer in the packing of dogfish succeeds in making a good 

 market for his product, a debt of gratitude will be due him by all 

 who are affected by the fishing industries. In the writer's opinion, 

 the only way to be rid of the excessive depredations of these fishes 

 is to have a large and steady demand for them in the market. Mere 

 sporadic attempts, like putting a bounty on the dogfish for a year, or 

 even several years, will prove expensive and will have no lasting 

 effect. Only a continuous destruction of the dogfish will keep down 

 its great numbers below the devastating limit, and such a destruction 

 can not be maintained unless it be made profitable. Consideration 

 of the uses to which the fish may be put serves to show that we may 

 perhaps look here for a practicable solution of this problem. 



MEASURES ADOPTED IN CANADA. 



The action of the Department of Marine and Fisheries of Canada is 

 the first remedial measure so far in operation against the dogfish. 

 The reduction works already referred to are located at Canso, Nova 

 Scotia, and Shippegan, on Chaleur Bay, New Brunswick. A third 

 2^1ant is said to be contracted for. The works at Canso were visited 

 by the Massachusetts Board of Fish Commissioners, who report 

 thereon as follows: 



October 2 and 3, 1905, we personally inspected at Canso the first of the dog- 

 fish reduction works to be put into operation under the auspices of the Depart- 

 ment of Marine and Fisheries of Canada. 



This establishment began operations about September 15, and was designed 

 to reduce about 10 tons of dogfish or fish offal daily. The machinery used 

 was furnished by the American Process Company, and is of the type generally 

 used in menhaden factories in this country, and with certain modifications in 



