FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1939 207 
soft-shell turtles are produced. There are 8 canning plants at 6 locali- 
ties packing shrimp, oysters, hard clam products, turtle meat and 
soup, coquina broth, and frog legs. There also are 5 menhaden meal 
and oil plants and several shark products and shell novelty companies. 
Shipments of fishery products from Florida are made by motortruck, 
rail freight and express; only nominal quantities being transported by 
steamship. It is estimated that approximately 59 percent of the fresh 
fish is shipped in bulk, 35 percent in barrels, 5 percent in 100-pound 
boxes, and 1 percent in containers of miscellaneous sizes. 
After excluding August and September, for which records are not 
available, truck*shipments reported from the Atlantic coast of Florida, 
and lower Gulf coast as far west as Cedar Keys, totaled about 
18 million pounds, or an average of 2,250,000 pounds monthly during 
the period March to December, 1939. 
Rail shipments and passings covering virtually all movements of 
fishery products by this type of carrier from the Peninsula of Florida, 
with the exception of some express shipments from middle and upper 
Gulf coast sections, totaled, during the 10 months from March to 
December, 1939, 115 carloads of fresh fish, 8 carloads of frozen fish, 
1 ear of frozen shrimp, and 32,396 express packages of unclassified 
fishery products. Of the 115 carloads of fresh fish, 59 were shipped 
during December. 
During the first 6 months of the shrimp season starting July 1, 1939, 
the 40 canneries under the supervision of the Seafood Inspection Serv- 
ice of the Food and Drug Administration operated an average of 
63 days each and packed a total of 1,048,754 standard cases of shrimp 
from 56,512,000 pounds of raw shrimp. The pack was divided mto 
824,000 cases of wet-pack shrimp in 5%-oz. tins, 179,000 cases of dry 
pack shrimp in 5-oz. tins, about 25,000 cases in miscellaneous sizes of 
tins, and 21,000 cases in glass containers. 
During 1939 S. C. Denham, Fisheries Statistical and Marketing 
Agent, supervised the Jacksonville Fishery Market News cfiice, as- 
sisted by J. E. Borum, Junior Clerk. 
NEW ORLEANS, LA. 
The work of organizing the Fishery Market News Service at New 
Orleans was started in October 1939, and the first daily report was 
issued on January 5, 1940. New Orleans is not important in itself 
as a production center for fishery commodities, but it is the largest 
centrally located city in the Gulf States and this area is important in 
the production and distribution of many fishery commodities, par- 
ticularly shrimp. Considerable dependence is placed upon the market 
news reporters for furnishing daily information on the status of the 
fisheries along the Gulf coast to the Market News office in New Orleans. 
These market news reporters, who are employed on a part-time basis, 
are located in important producing centers in Alabama, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, and Texas. 
The first section of the daily report issued by the New Orleans 
office includes information on the production of fish and shellfish m 
the Gulf producing area. This section is followed by information 
on carlot rail shipments of fresh and frozen fishery commodities 
from the Gulf States; express shipments of these commodities from 
New Orleans; passings of fishery products through New Orleans; rail 
