370 



MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



per cent as much as the fisheries based on Japan proper, exclusive of her 

 colonial fisheries, and 36 per cent as much as the Pacific coast of eastern 

 Asia, according to the figures available (FAO). The fisheries of Japan 

 proper are prosecuted in a coastal strip extending from 30 degrees to 50 

 degrees N. lat., equivalent to the distance from northern Florida to northern 

 Newfoundland. 



It is a striking fact that the herring family (Clupeidae) supplies almost 

 the same 45 per cent of the total production of fish and shellfish of each of 

 the three major fishing areas of the world for which we have statistics, 

 representing about 57 per cent of the total partly estimated world production 

 (36,800 million pounds). 



TABLE 12 



Per Cent of the Total Production of Fish and Shellfish 

 Supplied by the Herring Family (Clupeidae) 



* Atlantic herring, pilchard, sprats. 



t Atlantic and Pacific herrings, Pacific pilchard, alewives, shad. 



t Atlantic and Pacific herrings, Pacific pilchard, menhaden, alewives, shad, hickory shad. 

 § Pacific herring, and other herrings, a sardine {Sardinia melanosticta) , some anchovies {En- 

 graulis and Etrumeus) . 



Summary. The take of fish from the water appears to be exceedingly small 

 when considered along with a variety of other magnitudes, such as (i) the 

 basic amount of vegetable food produced per acre of sea, and the basic 

 production per acre of agricultural land; (2) the water area, compared with 

 the land area of the world; (3) the amount of fertilizer contained in fish 

 when compared with the small amount of water which would contain this 

 amount of chemical nutrients, and also when compared with the amount of 

 chemical fertilizer actually used each year by American agriculture; (4) for 

 the United States and the North American continent, the extent and produc- 

 tion of our fishery under-water areas compared with the extent and pro- 

 duction of intensely fished areas in other parts of the world; (5) the amount 



