ANNUAL REPORT OF FISHERIES LOAN FUND 

 FISCAL YEAR 1959 



The Fisheries Loan Fund was au- 

 thorized by Section 4 of the Fish and 

 Wildlife Act of 1956 (l6 U.S.C. 742c), 

 and operations were begun during fiscal 

 year 1957. Background and historical 

 information regarding the Fund can be 

 found in the "Annual Report of Fish- 

 eries Loan Fund, Fiscal Year 1957," 

 published as Circular 103, and for 

 "Fiscal Year 1958" (Circular 106). 



Conditions in most of the fisheries 

 in fiscal year 1959 were poorer than in 

 the previous year. The upsurge in value 

 of the catch in the latter half of 1958 

 was followed by lower prices of shrimp 

 and tuna during 1959. Loan applica- 

 tions during this fiscal year were re- 

 ceived at a lower rate (both in number 

 and value) than in either of the 2 

 previous fiscal years. 



STATISTICS OF THE COMMERCIAL 

 FISHERY, 1959 



During the calendar year 1959 the 



catch of fish and shellfish rose to 

 5.10 billion pounds, second only to the 

 5.25 billion pounds landed in 1956. The 

 large increase in menhaden caused 

 landings of industrial fish to exceed 

 the catch of food fish for the first 

 time. There were increases in landings 

 of shrimp, halibut, and Pacific mack- 

 erel, and decreases in landings of 

 grovmdfish, tuna. Pacific sardines, 

 salmon, and sea herring. The fisher- 

 men and vessel owners received over 

 $342 million for the catch which was 

 $31 million less than in 1958 and $11 

 million less than the average of the 

 previous 10 years. Low shrimp prices 

 contributed to this decline. Fish freez- 

 ing, w^hich has been rising for several 

 years, reached a new peak of 337 

 naillion pounds. 



A sunnmary of the number of fishing 

 craft and fishermen is shown in Table 

 1. 



TABLE 1.— Vessels, boats and fishermen— United States, 1959 



Area 



Vessels 



Number 



Fishermen 



Boats 



Number 



Fishermen 



North Atlantic 



Southeast 



Pacific Northwest . . . 



California 



Great Lakes and 

 Mississippi River. 



Hawaii 



Alaska 



Total, excl\isive of 

 duplication 



2,5';2 

 4,897 

 2,099 

 1,';20 



511 



64 



1,999 



12,109 



11,434 



16,278 



6,568 



6,022 



1,497 



343 



6,345 



42,920 



25,963 



15,001 



3,741 



1,332 



10,304 



263 



4,053 



60,620 



37,757 



20,865 



7,522 



2,186 



12,348 



345 



5,121 



86,065 



OPERATIONAL CHANGES 



As a result of the recommendations 

 of the committee appointed to review 



the operations and administration of the 

 fund during fiscal year 1958, a number 

 of changes were made. The applica- 

 tion form was revised (Appendix A). 



