ECONOMICS OF THE FISHERIES 353 



of appetizers, hors d'oeuvres and tidbits, most of which are "dust catchers" 

 on grocers' shelves. The business in these items is slow and difficult. Canned 

 fish are classified in the trade as groceries, and do not move through the 

 same channels of trade as fresh and frozen fish. If we assume that on the 

 average canned fish is 60 per cent of the whole fish from which derived, 

 the total pack is about 29 per cent of the whole catch of fish in the United 

 States and Alaska in 1940, and 42 per cent of that part of the catch which 

 is used for human food. 



Salting is obsolescent as a preservative, and smoking is of limited im- 

 portance. 



Freezing is now, next to canning, the preeminent preservative, and is be- 

 coming more important with fillets and other prepared edible portions. The 

 total of all fish frozen in 1940 was about 5 per cent of the total catch of all fish 

 in the United States, and about 7.5 per cent of that part of the catch which 

 was used for human food. These figures are somewhat misleading, since 

 26 per cent of the total frozen is in fillets, shown separately, and an un- 

 known quantity not shown separately. If the 26 per cent edible portions 

 separately shown are converted to round fish on the 40 per cent basis, the 

 percentages would be 7 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively. Tables 59 

 and 60, Appendix, set forth the money values of canned and quantities of 

 frozen fish in the United States in 1940. 



Refrigeration serves several economic needs, (i) to level off short term 

 fluctuations by relieving temporarily glutted markets; some of this is done 

 by chilling rather than freezing; (2) to carry over the excess heavy pro- 

 duction from summer to winter season, which is the season of heavy de- 

 mand. Table 61, Appendix, shows, for 1945, the monthly production and 

 disposal of the catch of fish in the United States; 66 per cent of all fish was 

 produced in the months June to October, inclusive, and 24 per cent Novem- 

 ber to March, inclusive; (3) to play an essential role in the new system 

 of distributing "quick" frozen packaged foods at retail. In economic aspect, 

 one important factor is often (and sometimes disastrously) overlooked in 

 the location of a general purpose freezer and cold storage, i.e., that these 

 plants usually best serve their purposes at or near the big city markets. 

 Whether to freeze or to sell fresh at the market is usually determined by 

 price on the spot. The shipper, remote by one to three days from the market 

 is in no position to determine what the price will be when the fish arrive, 

 and therefore cannot decide whether to freeze or sell. 



Filleting. The business of filleting at the source beginning in 192 1 has 

 grown to such extent that, in 1940, the production was 111,200,097 pounds, 

 valued at $13,149,372, or 11.8 cents per pound. In addition 14,274,543 

 pounds of steaks and other edible portions were produced, at a value of 





