FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1939 195 
During the year 1939 no complaints of violation of the antitrust 
acts by fishery cooperatives were referred to the Secretary of the 
Interior, who is empowered under the Fishery Cooperative Marketing 
Act to investigate such complaints. However, it should be noted that 
during the spring of 1939 a decision of a Federal district judge in 
Portland, Oreg., declared a fishermen’s union to be a cooperative and 
subject to the provisions of the antitrust laws. This decision may 
prove of considerable importance in the field of labor problems in 
the fishery industry, as well as in the whole field of cooperation. 
RETAIL MARKETING OF FISH AND SHELLFISH 
An extensive survey of the retailing of fresh and frozen fish was 
initiated early in 1939 and continued throughout the year. This 
study embraced many phases of fish retailing, but emphasis was upon 
the methods and practices of the trade. During the spring the Bureau 
employed 25 temporary investigators who surveyed 10,000 retail 
food stores in representative cities in the Eastern United States. It 
was found that only 4,000 of these stores handled fresh fish, and these 
were investigated in detail as to type of customers, nature of fish 
business, and facilities for handling fish. From the 6,000 stores not 
handling fresh fish, only a few general facts were requested. 
The volume of fish sales represented by the stores which handled 
fresh fish amounted to over 60 million pounds in 1938, while the re- 
ported value of sales exceeded $9,000,000. These 4,000 stores, 
located in both commercial and residential sections of some 50 cities, 
include nearly 1,200 chain stores, over 2,000 independent stores and 
voluntary chain stores, and about 400 fish markets. 
The volume of sales of fresh fish and shellfish was small for most 
stores, with heavy sales reported by a small percentage only. Nearly 
40 percent of the stores had annual fish sales amounting to less than 
$500, while about 30 percent reported fish business ranging from $500 
to $1,500 and almost 30 percent indicated a volume of $1,500 or more. 
A small pereentage of the stores did not report on dollar volume of 
fish sales. For the entire area surveyed, sales of fish on Friday 
comprised about half of the total weekly sales. About one-third of 
the weekly sales was divided between Thursday and Saturday, but 
sales on Thursday were substantially above those on Saturday. 
The remaining sales were spread over the other days of the week, 
but less than one-half of 1 percent of the weekly saies occurred on 
Sunday. 
All species that constituted any appreciable percentage of total fish 
sales were tabulated. However, the data regarding the number of 
stores selling each species are primarily useful for comparative pur- 
poses, since the schedules usually reported only the species making up 
the bulk of sales. The preliminary results indicate that oysters, with 
sales by over 2,900 stores in all cities, were reported by more stores 
and in a larger number of cities than any other species. Haddock, 
sold by nearly 2,000 stores in some 35 cities, was the second most 
widely distributed species and halibut, next in importance, was re- 
ported by over 1,300 stores in about 30 cities. In the distribution of 
fresh-water species, catfish, handled by nearly 900 stores in 36 cities, 
ranked first, while yellow perch was second with sales by some 550 
stores in 25 cities. By further analysis of the number of cities and 
