the cholesterol level of the blood that is associated 

 with the common circulatory disease, atherosclerosis. 

 Fish oils are useful, too, in dressing hides in certain 

 kinds of leathers. Scientific studies have shown con- 

 clusively that fish meal added to commercial animal 

 food provides important but still unknown growth 

 factors and is more economical than other supple- 

 ments. 



Essential Services 



For many years the Bureau of Commercial Fish- 

 eries has provided numerous distinct and unique 

 services to the fishing industry and to the general 

 public. For example, fishery statistics have been 

 collected, analyzed, and published since 1880. It was 

 one of the first functions of the old U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission. Each year detailed statistical surveys on 

 employment in the fisheries, volume and value of the 

 catch, and the production of manufactured fishery 

 products for all sections of the country are completed 

 and published. With the ever- increasing use of our 

 national fishery resources, the need for such informa- 

 tion also increases. Statistics supply Federal and 

 State resource agencies with the information needed 

 to protect and develop the fishing industry without 

 depleting the resource. 



The Fishery Market News Service, organized in 

 1937, operates as "the eyes and ears of the fishing 

 industry.'* It collects and circulates current informa- 

 tion from widely scattered fishery centers of the 

 United States on production, receipts, supply and de- 

 mand, market prices, cold storage holdings, and 

 imports and exports of fishery products. The informa- 

 tion is released in daily reports and monthly and 

 annual summaries from seven field offices located in 

 Boston, Mass., New York City, Hampton, Va., New 

 Orleans, La., San Pedro, Calif., Seattle, Wash., and 

 Chicago, 111. 



Voluntary quality standards have been developed 

 for a number of fish and fishery products through the 

 combined efforts of the commercial fishing industry, 

 the U. S. Department of the Interior (through the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries), and the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture. The first standard to be 



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