Cabinate for displaying ft-ozen fish generally were owned by the 

 retailer. Only 2 percent of the wholesalers reported that they furnished 

 display cabinets to retailers. 



Nearly 60 percent of the wholesalers in the three states furnish^ 

 ed ice for fresh fish displays at no extra direct charge. This practice 

 was found to be much more prevalent in Washington and Oregon than in Cali- 

 fornia. 



Educational work by wholesalers to teach retailers how to handle 

 fish was conducted by 2? percent of the fresh fish idiolesalers and about 

 10 percent of the frozen food wholesalers. 



About 70 percent of the fish wholesalers and 37 percent of the 

 frozen food wholesalers did some advertising. The amount spent on adver- 

 tising, however, was extremely small. It amounted to about 0»2 of one 

 percent of sales in California, Oregon, and Washington, Only about 22 

 percent of the i^olesalers planned to make even moderate increases in 

 advertising expenditures. 



Facilities Used 



More than one- half of the vriiolesalers owned or rented freezing 

 facilities in addition to regular frozen storage space* The freezing units 

 had an estimated average capacity of about 32,600 pounds per 2k hours* A 

 large percentage of the wholesalers reported some inadequacies in their 

 equipment during the peak of the season; however, sufficient supplementary 

 public facilities were available. ELghlgr-five percent of the 'rfiolesalera 

 operated frozen product storage facilities^ with an estimated average 

 capacity of more than 700,000 pounds* About kh percent of the iriiolesalers 

 in Washington and 10 percent in Oregon and California kept their frozen 

 product storage above the recommended temperature of O^F* 



About 63 percent of the fish ^olesalers had ice-making equipment 

 with an average estimated capacity of 77,300 pounds per 2k hours* A large 

 part of the total, however, was controlled by a few firms* 



Losses due to spoilage of fish and shellfish products were 

 reportedly very small among Pacific Coast ^diolesalers. Thirty-four percent 

 of the California wholesalers, about 30 percent in Oregon, and kS percent 

 in Washington reported no loss due to spoilage. The remaining wholesalers 

 had losses of 1 percent or less. Reported losses of frozen packaged prod- 

 ucts in the three States were even smaller. 



Suggestions and Opinions Offered by Wholesalers 



Most i^olesalers were of the opinion that new products could 

 best be introduced to retailers and institutions through salesmen. Retail 

 stores were reported to be generally receptive to new fishery products, 

 although in California the competition between products for frozen food 

 space inhibited the introduction of some new items. 



17 



