1.3 million pounds to U5.7 million pounds. 

 I2/ Of these landings, it is estimated that 

 some 80 percent of the haddock is processed 

 into fresh and frozen fillets, and that 

 practically all of the ocean perch becomes 

 frozen fillets for the export market. There 

 has likewise been a marked growth in fresh 

 and frozen cod fillet processing in com- 

 parison with the pre-war years. About one- 

 third of Atlantic cod landings is processed 

 into fresh and frozen fillets and frozen 

 blocks or slabs. 



Salted cod production is still impor- 

 tant. Over 70 percent of Newfoundland's 

 cod landings are destined for the salted 

 market and most of the Province's fishing 

 population are dependent on it for their 

 livelihood. The Federal and Provincial 

 governments have recognized that the re- 

 turns of the salt-cod fishery are marginal 

 and are trying to modernize the industry. 

 Attempts are being made to shift the proc- 

 essing operation from small-boat crews, 

 using manual methods, to centralized curing 

 stations equipped with mechanical dryers 

 and other modem processing implements. 

 The Federal CSovemment also subsidizes the 

 industry by paying half the cost of the 

 salt used. 



Although there are many isolated out- 

 ports, particularly in Newfoundland, where, 

 local production of fresh and frozen prod- 

 ucts is not practicable in the immediate 

 future, landings for saltfish, in general, 

 represent a buffer supply to which fresh 

 and frozen processors have turned as de- 

 mand has warranted. Several Newfoundland 

 firms processing fresh and frozen fish 

 were forced out of business due to over- 

 expansion and consequent price cutting. 

 One industry leader in Nova Scotia com- 

 mented that these plants could be brought 

 back into production, sending another 

 3,000,000 pounds of fillets into Boston 

 but it would break the New England market. 

 Landings for saltfish therefore represent 

 additional sources of supply for frozen 

 fillets, but are sources which major pro- 

 ducers use with restraint in times of 

 normal abundance. 



The development of a large market for 

 fresh and frozen groundfish fillets has 

 had several significant effects. Consumer 



demand during World V/ar II led to a less- 

 ening of restrictions on deep-sea trawlers 

 and draggers. The need to obtain a year- 

 round supply of fresh fish for filleting 

 and freezing to meet market needs occa- 

 sioned further growth in the large number 

 of offshore trawlers. Productivity of 

 labor in the fishery was increased, par- 

 ticularly on Newfoundland's South Coast, 

 by divorcing processing from procurement 

 of the raw material, ^/lOiere formerly fish- 

 ermen in inshore vessels caught and cured 

 their own fish, many now are employed only 

 as deckhands on trawlers, and specialized 

 shore labor handles the processing opera- 

 tions. There has been a greatsr geograph- 

 ical concentration of fishing activities. 



"Because mechanized processing methods 

 require plants of comparatively large size 

 and a concentration of fishing activities 

 - to insure some stability of supply - a 

 movement from smaller to larger fishing 

 ports, notably Halifax and Lunenberg was 

 also involved." 60/ 



The expanding United States market 

 for frozen groundfish fillets and frozen 

 blocks or slabs enabled the Canadian in- 

 dustry to emerge from stagnacy and to be- 

 come a groTrth factor in the provincial 

 economies. VJithout this new market the 

 softening in the Caribbean and Mediterra- 

 nean saltfish markets might have led to 

 severe economic dislocation. The possi- 

 bilities of growth, much of it in terms of 

 United States' consumption, have impelled 

 governmental bodies to aid the industry to 

 expand its capacity and productivity by 

 means of subsidies, loans, and educational 

 services. Finally, of course, it has made 

 the Canadian groundfish industry directly 

 competitive with that of New England's in 

 the inland markets of the United States . 

 This competition is largely in the frozen 

 fillet and block market. Canadian exports 

 of fresh fish to the United States are not 

 a significant competitive factor. In fact, 

 the fresh fish market, although confined to 

 the northeastern United States, is one in 

 which foreign competition as yet poses no 

 serious threat. 



Although many New England producers 

 lay the blame for their economic distress 

 on Canadian competition, almost all admit 



g9/ Canadian Fisheries Annual , 1959. PP. 71-72. 

 So/ The Commercial Fisheries~of Canada, op. cit.. 



p. 7. 



30 



