354 



MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



$791,653, or 5.54 cents per pound. The total of all edible portions manu- 

 factured at the source was 125,474,640 pounds, valued at $13,941,015, 

 or I I.I cents per pound, made from 31 trade species of fishes. 



The catch of these 31 species was 948,826,000 pounds, valued at $29,- 

 670,000, or 3.13 cents per pound. We do not know the equivalent in whole 

 fish of the edible portions. The average edible portions that were recovered 

 in the laboratory by Atwater (1888) of 63 specimens representing 36 

 species was 48.22 per cent without skins. This figure is doubtless too high 

 for an average of commercial filleting by hand as now practiced. Rosefish, 

 now one of our major items (not used for food in Atwater's time), yields 

 only about 26 per cent, including skin, but after candling to remove those 

 fillets which contain parasites; cod and haddock yield about 40 per cent 

 (of gutted fish) skins off. 



At three assumed average percentages of recovery, there are calculated 

 in Table 9 the equivalent pounds of whole fish required to make the 125,- 

 500,000 pounds of edible portions, the percentages these quantities of whole 

 fish are of the total production of the 31 species from which edible portions 

 were made, and of the total production of fish marketed as fresh or frozen, 

 and, finally, the cost of raw materials per pound of fillets. 



TABLE 9 



Production of 125,500,000 Pounds of Fillets and Other Edible Portions 1940; at 



Specified Assumed Percentages of Recovery, the Calculated Equivalents in 



Whole Fish, the Percentages These Are of Catch, and 



the Equivalent Raw Material Costs 



* Total catch of the 31 species from which edible portions were made, 948,826,000 pounds, 

 valued at $29,670,000, or 3.13 cents per pound. 



t Total round fish weight of fish marketed in fresh or frozen form in 1940, 1,461 miUion 

 pounds, unofficial estimate, U. S. Fish & WildHfe Service. 



Although these figures are over-all unweighted averages and at assumed, 

 probably generous, estimates of recovery, they, give some idea of the narrow 

 profit margins on which the fillet business is based. With a market value 

 of I I.I cents per pound, we may compare costs of materials at from 7.83 



