* 
TRADE IN FRESH AND FROZEN FISHERY PRODUCTS 493 
IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS 
While 74 varieties of fishery products are handled by the trade in 
greater St. Louis, 6 of these, amounting to 9,873,000 pounds, consti- 
tute 75 per cent of the trade. Four of these are not common to this 
locality, while two represent species that formerly were caught in 
large quantities locally but now are shipped in from distant points. 
TaBLe 5.—Fishery products upon which 75 per cent of the trade is based ! 



Rank Product | Rank Product 
| xo ey ne pease —- i 5 > 
1 Sal el Whiting. |p et Cattish: 
7 | Halibut. ie See ae | Oysters. 
Sea ears Buffalo fish, Gee eee | Haddock.? 

1 Tables 5, 6, and 7 are to be considered together as regards the relative rank of importance of the 
npduels as a whole. 
2 Fillets. 

In years past the trade in greater St. Louis preferred varieties of 
Great Lakes and local fresh-water fish. When near-by supplies 
became insufficient, shipments were received from more distant 
points. As other cities were drawing upon the same supply and 
shipments became unsteady with intermittent high and low prices, 
the fisheries trade became more or less erratic, with the trade during 
the summer months almost at a standstill. Stabilization was needed 
if the trade was to remain in a prosperous condition. About 1915 
a search was made for varieties of fish that would be available in 
steady quantities throughout the year at a fairly uniform price. 
Various species were introduced, including the whiting. This fish 
readily gained favor with the trade and sales increased steadily, 
so that now it ranks first in importance in this market. 
Whiting is taken chiefly along the coastal waters of Massachusetts 
and New Jersey during the late spring, summer, and fall months, 
where it is frozen in the round, boxed, and held in cold storage. As 
supplies are needed, they are shipped to St. Louis, usually in carload 
pe where they are again placed in cold-storage warehouses pending 
sale. 
The vast majority of whiting sold are beheaded, viscerated, and 
skinned in St. Louis, ready for cooking, and then sorted according to 
sizes of one to a pound, two to a pound, three to a pound, and so on. 
The finished product might’ be called a whiting ‘‘stick.’”’ As it is 
eually boneless, it is especially acceptable to children as well as 
adults. 
Dealers in greater St. Louis say that the whiting has become popu- 
lar in this market because it resembles varieties of fish once popular, 
the supply is steady, and it can be graded and sold by number as well 
as by weight. This is especially acceptable to the restaurant dealer, 
as he knows the cost of the fish in each portion served. 
Barbecue stands and hot-fish shops (an American modification of 
the European fish and chip shops) have aided in popularizing whiting 
in greater St. Louis. These shops range in size from an out-of-door 
lunch counter to a restaurant or hot-fish shop that makes a specialty 
of selling only cooked whiting. On one of the main highways near 
St. Louis is such a shop handling only whiting of a size of about three 
