192 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
The Boston Fish Pier, the largest in the world devoted exclusively 
to the fish business, is the outgrowth of the importance of the fishing 
industry to Boston. The pier itself extends 1,200 feet into the harbor 
and is 300 feet in width, the entire property comprising 537,000 
square feet. It was built at a cost of $3,000,000 and was opened on 
March 30, 1914. Approximately 350,000,000 pounds of fish are 
landed at the pier annually. 
The pier is divided by a wide center street flanked on each side by 
buildings especially designed and constructed to house the activities 
of the wholesale dealers occupying the individual stores. Besides 
sufficient space for the receiving, processing, packing, and shipping of 
fish, they also contain offices and storage rooms. Each store has a 
front entrance on the center street and a rear entrance on a mooring 
side of the pier, thus making it possible for fish to be taken directly 
from the vessel into the rear entrance, processed, packed, and delivered 
to a waiting truck at the front entrance. 
A large cold-storage plant is located at the shore end of the pier. 
It has a capacity of 15,000,000 pounds of frozen fish as well as ade- 
quate freezing and icing facilities. In addition, there are three other 
public cold-storage plants near at hand that freeze and store fish. 
The New England Fish Exchange is located in a building on the 
outermost end of the pier. It is here that all trips of fish are sold. 
The Exchange is open early each morning, except on Sundays or 
holidays. If desiring to sell in or over the Exchange the captain of 
each vessel is required to register his catch with an officer of the 
Exchange before it can be auctioned. The detailed fare of each indi- 
vidual trip is posted on blackboards for the inspection of the buyers. 
All bidders or buyers must be members of the Exchange. Every 
effort is made by the vessel captains to make port prior to the open- 
ing of the Exchange in order to obtain top prices. 
The bidding commences at 7:15a.m. Each captain has the alterna- 
tive of making his own sale or engaging an authorized agent to do 
his selling for him. The auctioneers are on a raised stand in the 
center of the Exchange around whieh the buyers gather. The auc- 
tioneer announces the amount and kind of fish he has to offer, ac- 
cepts bids, and sells to the highest bidder. The buyer may buy part 
or all of any trip. All purchasers are presented with settlement slips 
which must be paid before the closing of that day’s business. The 
sales continue throughout the day until all fish are sold. Each morn- 
ing the sales begin with new arrivals, since fish seldom are carried 
over unless the owner or captain finds it advantageous to do so. 
The Boston Fish Pier is a scene of great activity throughout the 
day. Fish is being moved in all directions as soon as the first sales 
are consummated. From the vessel’s side to the dealer’s premises 
the fish generally are transported in large two-wheeled carts, hauled 
by hand or motortrucks. 
Good transportation facilities add to the importance of Boston as 
a producing center. On the pier a railroad spur on each side of the 
cold-storage plant makes it possible to load directly into cars or un- 
load directly into the freezer. Two large trucking firms have plat- 
forms to receive and send shipments. All of the stores have loading 
platforms to accommodate trucks of various sizes. The finished 
products are loaded at these points for local or State-wide distribution. 
In addition, large refrigerated trucks receive cargoes for distant de- 
