FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1939 197 
purchase any of the commodities designated in this Act which may have been 
produced in any foreign country. The provisions of law relating to the acquisition 
of materials or supplies for the United States shall not apply to the acquisition of 
commodities under this Act. 
See. 2. (a) From the fund authorized to be transferred by section 1 hereof, the 
Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to transfer to the Secretary of the Interior 
sums as follows to be maintained in a separate fund, $75,000, which shall be used 
by the Secretary of the Interior to promote the free flow of domestically produced 
fishery products in commerce by conducting a fishery educational service; and 
$100,000, which shall be used by the Secretary of the Interior to develop and in- 
crease markets for fishery products of domestic origin. 
It will be noted that Public 393 includes, as section 2, provision for 
expanded fisheries economic, marketing, and technological services; 
however, the funds for this purpose have not as yet been provided. 
COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF THE WORLD 
The world’s annual catch of fishery products, based on the most 
recent available data, amounts to about 35,200,000,000 pounds, valued 
at $762,000,000. The United States, including Alaska, with a catch 
valued at $100,845,000, leads the countries of the world in the annual 
value of its yield. Japan’s annual catch, valued at $100,807,000, 
ranks second. Other countries, the annual catch of which exceeds 
$50,000,000 in value, are, in order of their importance, Union of Soviet 
Socialist Republics; England, including Scotland, Northern Ireland, 
and Wales; and China. Japan, with a catch of 8,108,000,000 pounds, 
leads in the annual volume of the catch among the countries of the 
world, and following is the United States, with a catch aggregating 
4,353,000,000 pounds. Other countries whose annual catches exceed 
1,500,000,000 pounds are, in order of their importance, Union of 
Soviet Socialist Republics; China; England, including Scotland, 
Northern Ireland, and Wales; Norway; and Germany. 
STATISTICAL INVESTIGATIONS 
Fishery statistics are collected by the Bureau to serve two principal 
purposes—biological and economic. For this reason the Bureau plans 
its statistical surveys to obtain comprehensive data which will furnish 
a complete and reliable picture of the condition and trend of the 
fisheries. The collection and compilation of these data involve many 
problems because the fisheries are broad in scope, including over 160 
varieties of aquatic products which enter into commercial production. 
Many of these species are migratory and are taken by a great variety 
of types of gear in areas along the seacoast, or in interior lakes and 
streams. If the biological aspect is to be served, complete annual 
statistics are needed on each of these phases in every section. If the 
economic aspect is to be served, statistics are needed not only on the 
phases listed above relative to the biological aspect, but also on the 
price structure, the processing function, and on marketing and 
distributing. 
It is essential that statistics on these latter phases of the industry 
be collected and published as soon as possible after the close of business 
transactions in order that they may be of maximum value to the fishery 
industry and other interested parties. 
