Raw fresh meat contains a substance or combination of substances 

 which are essential for sustaining life and growth. These have been 

 called "Factor H" and the lack of than results in anemia and death. 

 It has been shown that these anti-anemia factors are present in salmon 

 viscera but not in the salmon flesh. A method of preservation must 

 be worked out to include these anti-anemia factors in the preserved 

 material. 



Many workers think it is possible that the components of the vita- 

 min B complex are important parts of the factors which prevent the anemic 

 condition of fish tr.at results from an inadequate diet. It has been proved 

 that a deficiency of thiamine or riboflavin will cause characteristic 

 diseases and high mortality. It has also been reported that lack of 

 sufficient pantothenic acid resulted in a non-bacterial gill disease. 

 For these reasons, analyses for the vitamin B complex content of the fish 

 meals used in the diets are being made and will be reported later. 



Many hatcheries have included waste from the salmon canneries of 

 Washington and Oregon in their diets. Under present conditions the de- 

 mand is greater than the supply from these canneries. Consequently, 

 with millions of pounds of cannery waste available in Alaska, a huge 

 potential source of food was waiting to be utilized. The problem of pre- 

 servation must be solved if this source of supply is to be used advantage- 

 ously. The salmon canneries in Alaska and most hatcheries in the United 

 States do not have facilities for freezing or for storing the frozen pro- 

 duct. Therefore, although it is important to test the frozen material 

 to prove that the basic material contains the essential growth and anti- 

 anemia factors, it is also necessary to find other methods of preservation 

 so that the resulting product can be stored without refrigeration facil- 

 ities yet at the same time will retain the essential growth factors. 

 Since this project was begun at a time when it was impossible to obtain 

 material frcm Alaska, it was decided to prepare meals fran the frozen vis- 

 cera of Columbia River salmon. 



At the time the project was approved, only a small part remained of 

 the normal growing season for the salmon at the Leavenworth Hatchery 

 where feeding tests were to be carried out. Since time for research on 

 preservation methods was not available, methods which has previously been 

 worked out were used in the preparation of the materials for the feeding 

 tests. The results of these abbreviated tests are, then, to be used only 

 as an indication of the logical subsequent feeding tests to be made on 

 waste from the Alaska canneries over the entire normal growing season 

 next year. 



In addition to the comparison of salmon viscera meals, confirmation of 

 results of the previous years at the Leavenworth Hatchery was desired. It 

 had been found that frozen salmon viscera permitted better growth than a 

 diet of 100 percent beef liver. For this reason, as well as for comparison 

 with the fish meals, one diet consisting of 90 percent salmon viscera 

 bound by 10 percent apple pomace, and another diet of 100 percent raw fro- 

 zen total salmon waste were included. 



The investigation was conducted at the Leavenworth Laboratory of the Divi- 

 sion of Fishery Biology, Fish and Wildlife Service, in cooperation with the 

 Seattle Laboratory of the Division of Commercial Fisheries. Its primary pur- 

 pose was to explore the possibilities of Alaska salmon cannery waste products 



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