USEFUL ALGAE — CHASE 449 



Japanese exports of whole, sliced, and powdered kelp for 1932 

 were valued at 2,013,000 yen. The export prices are usually lower 

 than the domestic wholesale prices because export prices are generally 

 quoted in larger quantities than in the case of domestic wholesale 

 transactions. The kelp produced for China is of lower quality as a 

 rule than that consumed in Japan. The kelp shipped to Hawaii and 

 the United States is in meal and powdered form to be used as poultry 

 feed, human food, and for medical purposes. 



Norway produces kelp ash, the greater part of which is taken 

 over by the iodine trust in Scotland. Ash is also exported from 

 Norway to Great Britain. Before 1930 Russia was a fairly good 

 market for the limited production of iodine, but the beginning of the 

 manufacture of iodine in Russia adversely affected the Norwegian 

 kelp burners. In 1932 heavy storms washed ashore large quantities 

 of seaweed all along the northern and southern coasts of Stavanger. 

 The kelp was of better quality than that gathered in previous years, 

 and for it the burners would have been paid a higher price. How- 

 ever, a heavy decrease in price was caused at that time by the fact 

 that Chile, the world's largest exporters of iodine, abandoned the 

 gold standard, and with abundant stocks of iodine on hand, was able 

 to cut the price about 25 percent. It was then impossible for manu- 

 facturers in England and Scotland to produce iodine from Norwegian 

 or Irish seaweed ash at competitive prices. Lower price quotations 

 for iodine were also reported from Japan and Russia. 



Kelp was formerly exported from the Wieringen district in Hol- 

 land in the amount of 2,000 to 3,000 tons annually, going principally 

 to Belgium, England, and France, with occasional shipments to the 

 United States. It consisted chiefly of fully prepared seaweed to be 

 used as filling for mattresses and upholstery and for plant gelatins. 



A firm in San Pedro, Calif., leases the kelp beds in the vicinity 

 from the State Bureau of Fisheries and prepares the seaweed for 

 livestock and poultry concentrates. This company also prepares kelp 

 for human consumption. 



A concern in Seattle, Wash., manufactures chiefly cosmetic products 

 from kelp. 



At one time there was a kelp-gathering project in Nova Scotia 

 which obtained kelp from the shores of Nova Scotia near Clark Har- 

 bor and processed it in a plant at Rockland, Me. The fishermen 

 were paid $3.00 a ton for kelp. They pulled it off the rocks by hand 

 or with hooks and loaded it in their dories to take to the plant, 

 where it was treated with chemicals in cement tanks to prevent it 

 from rotting. It was then packed in rope bags, and when a sufficient 

 quantity, 100 to 110 tons, had accumulated, it was shipped to Rock- 

 land in a power boat. In 1938, the first year of operation, 6 ship- 



