338 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
Statistical summary of fisheries of the United States and Alaska 










Sect; Persons Capital 
Sections engaged | invested | Products 
| | 
Number | | Pounds Value 
New England piptes 1924-12-22 ee ae ge 24, 513 ($28, 561,824 | 406, 822,165 | $18, 818, 132 
Middle Atlantic States: 11921-1925: 2s eee aoe owes | 638, 574 | 39, 821, 342 666, 137, 511 25, 615, 453 
PouthtAtlanieiSiatess a 92a. my ee ee en rae 16,298 | 8,505,259 | 228,747,930} 5, 087,340 
Gulf States;/1923 2: 2a 7 Sab SEs Se As eae LE Be sk 17, 793 | 10, 535, 905 | 160, 324, 042 8, 096, 650 
Pacific Coast States, 19252 222 sani Te bese es 22,270 | 28,651,490 | 610,993,424 | 24, 580, 524 
IMUSSISSIPpIORIvemd vision o2z ass wean s Sel Pinas | 19,122 | 7,345,034 |} 105, 733, 734 4, 503, 521 
GreaiglakesplGs inn! see Seer iS 8 ee ae 8, 039 | 12,046,458 | 108, 732, 443 6, 689, 611 
Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake, 1922_.____________- 123 | 139, 956 | 1, 677, 999 | 110, 022 
Alaska sto26 2) 2M ic ih aoe Cee id). eed 28, 052 | 74,557,522 | 728,185,986 | 15,179,814 
pa SN [eee 
Total various years, 1921-1926__.....__.____-____= 189, 784 /210, 164, 789 |3, 017, 355, 234 108, 681, 067 
i 

Notr.—In the statistics for the Pacific Coast States in this table the persons and investment are for 1922 
and the products are for 1925. 
It has been apparent for some years that the greatest opportunity 
for progress in the fishery industries was in developing methods of 
bringing fresh fishery products to the consumer in the freshest pos- 
sible condition. The development of fish filleting has been an im- 
portant step in this direction, and during the past year the output 
of fillets has continued to increase. The methods of suitably freez- 
ing fillets and packaging frozen fillets and other frozen fish in such 
a way as to permit their distribution and sale in much the same way 
as other package goods have progressed and promise to have favor- 
able effects’on the fish trade. Carbon dioxide ice has been used on 
a commercial scale in shipping small and large quantities of frozen 
fish and doubtless will be found regularly useful for making ship- 
ments under certain conditions. Notwithstanding these improve- 
ments, there are many serious technological problems as yet unsolved. 
The most urgent of these is the necessity of keeping fish in a fresh, 
wholesome condition from the time the fishermen take it from the 
water until it reaches the consumer. Means of satisfactorily utilizing 
waste from market fishes need also to be found, and general improve- 
ments in the by-products industries are necessary if the industry is 
to maintain its existence. 
The acute condition at present existing in the menhaden industry 
deserves mention. Severe losses have been suffered in this industry 
in recent years. They are due in part to the fluctuations in the 
supply of menhaden and in part to the lack of efficient technological 
processes in the industry. Nothing is more vital to an industry 
than its supply of raw materials, yet there is utter dearth of informa- 
tion on the abundance of menhaden. A biostatistical study of 
menhaden, such as is being made on the mackerel (see p. 339), is 
urgently needed. Such an investigation would give an understand- 
ing of the causes of scarcity or abundance of menhaden and permit 
us to foresee the supply from one year to the next. With such 
predictive information available, the losses in operation in a poor 
year could be minimized through reduction of operating expenses. 
With additional savings by means of increased efficiency in the 
technological process of reducing menhaden to meal and oil, it is 
believed that the-industry, now in a precarious condition, might 
prosper. The serious condition in this industry, which produces 
quantities of valuable protein feedstuffs and nitrogenous fertilizers 
in addition to the animal oils, can not but be viewed with concern. 

