BUREAU OF FISHERIES XX\r 



Imqyroved handling of fresh fish. — ^Important advances have been 

 made in the marketing of fresh fish, notably in the development of the 

 filleted and packaged product. The highly perishable natm^e of this 

 commodity' calls for the most careful handling on shipboard, in the 

 wholesale houses, and in transit overland. Particular attention is 

 being given the New England vessel fisheries through the establish- 

 ment of an office on the Boston Fish Pier, where a technologist and 

 an assistant are studying conditions both on shipboard and ashore. 

 It is expected that this will result in the application of scientific 

 principles to the handling of sea foods in sucli a way as to insure 

 their delivery to inland consumers in the best condition. The im- 

 mediate application of improved methods of caring for fresh fish is 

 important, but the trend of developments in the fisheries indicates 

 that the future need will be still greater as it becomes necessary to fish 

 on more distant grounds. In six years the packaged-fish trade has 

 grown to an industry utilizing about 75,000,000 pounds of fish an- 

 nually. With expansion in fish consumption and the extension of the 

 fishery will come the necessity for refrigeration and insulation on 

 shipboard, in view of which there can be little doubt concerning the 

 urgency of technological research in this field. 



MERCHANDISING FISHERY I'RODUCTS 



The bureau's program of surveying the trade in fishery products 

 in the principal cities was continued during 1927 by surveys of St. 

 Louis, Mo., Jacksonville, Fla., and Atlanta, Ga. Detailed results of 

 these studies were published in Bureau of Fisheries Documents Nos. 

 1026, 1036, and 1039. In addition to these, a survey of the packaged- 

 fish trade was completed and published as Economic Circular No. 63. 



TRADE IN PACKAGE FISH PRODUCTS 



In September, 1921, a Boston firm began shipping fillets of fish 

 wrapped in parchment paper and packed in wooden boxes holding 

 about 20 pounds of fish. In February, 1922, another Boston firm 

 began packing these parchment-wrapped fillets in tin containers 

 packed in large wooden shipping cases surrounded with ice. Out of 

 this departure from usual practices a great industr}^ has grown. By 

 1926 about 40 firms were engaged in the business, which utilized about 

 46,000,000 pounds of fresh and frozen fish in the round and produced 

 about 18,300,000 pounds of prepared products. In 1927 no less than 

 75,000,000 pounds of fresh fish were used in this trade. This is the 

 most significant development in the fishing industry in a quarter of a 

 century. Packaged fish have the advantage that they meet the 

 requirements of the housewife, retail stores, and public eating places 

 for a sanitary, cartoned, unit package, wholly edible, easily merchan- 

 dised, and prepared for the table. Packaging fish reduces trans- 

 portation costs to a minimum and concentrates the waste at the point 

 of production, wliere it can be utilized economically. It opens the 

 way to direct advertising of individual products, permitting the use 

 of trade-marked wrappers, cartons, containers, and shipping cases, 

 which may carry printed or lithographed trade names as well as the 



