BIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 87 



Table i gives for 1947 the value of marine animal oil produced from whole 

 fish and waste, and Table 2 gives the value of marine oil produced from 

 viscera and liver. ^ 



TABLE 1 



Production of Marine Animal Oils from Whole Fish and Waste, 1947 

 Species Gallons Value 



Menhaden 8,473,371 $11,425,497 



Pilchard • 2,103,965 2,677,453 



Nine others 5,323,106 6,004,244 



Total 15,900,442 $20,107,194 



TABLE 2 



Production of Marine Animal Oils from Liver and Viscera, 1947 

 Species Gallons Value 



Shark 490,940 $ 6,634,050 



Cod 260,377 556,546 



Tuna 43,305 1,373,609 



Miscellaneous (9) 37,888 3,079,263 



Total 832,510 $11,643,468 



The principal uses of menhaden oil are for the manufacture of cutting oils, 

 paint, linoleum, etc. For a time efforts were made to market menhaden oil on 

 the basis of its vitamin content, but its value is so low as compared to the oils 

 of other fish easily obtained that there is little likelihood that menhaden oil 

 will ever be used for this purpose. 



Meal made from menhaden is highly rated as an animal food and, particu- 

 larly during the past few years, has fetched a high price. It is about equal in 

 total dollar value to that of the oil produced. In 1947 the total meal made in 

 the United States from all sources of marine animals, including that manufac- 

 tured from cod, haddock, rosefish, salmon, pilchard, and menhaden, was 

 371,616,000 pounds valued at $22,353,488. Of this amount, menhaden sup- 

 plied 197,204,000 pounds, or 53 per cent, the value of which was $10,883,852, 

 or 48 per cent of the total. Because of its greater value as fish meal for 

 animal feeding during recent years, Httle or no menhaden is manufactured 

 into fertilizer. 



HISTORY OF THE MENHADEN FISHERY 



Of the important fisheries of the Atlantic coast, the menhaden industry 

 is the youngest with the exception of the rose- or redfish industry, which was 

 started in the early 1930's in New England. The fish has been known from 

 colonial days when the Indian chief Squanto, friend of the white man, taught 

 the early Pilgrims to fertilize their crops with it. John Lawson, colonial ex- 



I. All statistics of menhaden herein are from U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 



