FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1927 409 



6,000,000 pounds were distributed to other cities, two-thirds by express 

 and one-third by freight. Freight shipments, which are forwarded 

 to New York, Philadelphia, and other large northern cities, are made 

 up largely of less-than-carload express shipments from Florida 

 producers. Producers making shipments of this nature via Jackson- 

 ville usually send their products on consignment; and inasmuch as it 

 is customary for consignors to pay transportation charges to destina- 

 tion, this arrangement is advantageous for the reason that they obtain 

 a car-lot freight rate on their products from Jacksonville to the con- 

 suming market. 



About 3,750,000 pounds of fresh and frozen fishery products were 

 consumed in Jacksonville in 1926. Based on a population of about 

 150,000 for that year, the annual per capita consumption of fish 

 amounted to about 25 pounds in the round or 18 pounds of the edible 

 portion. This is slightly higher than the average for the United 

 States and is due mainly to consumption by colored and transient 

 residents and to the fact that restaurants and other eating places 

 feature fishery products on their menus. 



The bulk of the trade (75 per cent) is based on mullet, croaker, 

 fresh-water bream, shrimp, oysters, king whiting, red snapper, 

 crappie, sea trout, and Spanish mackerel, named in order of impor- 

 tance. Fourteen other products constitute 20 per cent of the trade, 

 and 24 products make up the remaining 5 per cent of the trade. 



During 1926, there were 24 retail stores in Jacksonville that 

 marketed fish every day in the week. Twelve of these catered almost 

 entii'ely to colored residents, four to white residents, and eight to 

 customers of both races. Of the stores catering to white residents, 

 seven were located downtown and five in outlying districts. In 

 other words, only five neighborhood fish stores that cater to the white 

 trade are conducted in Jacksonville. This would indicate that there 

 is opportunity for the sale of fish in neighborhood grocery stores, in 

 which package fish could be handled easily. A few grocery stores 

 and meat markets now handle fishery products, but their number is 

 almost negligible. In the strictly retail fish store, business is dull on 

 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, on Friday it is medi- 

 ocre, and on Saturday it is brisk. Those catering to white customers 

 reported Friday their busiest day, and those catering to colored 

 customers reported Saturday as the busiest day. 



Fresh and frozen fishery products are marketed by peddlers, also, 

 who operate from motor trucks and horse or hand drawn vehicles. 

 They usually canvass those sections of the city having colored 

 residents. 



The wholesale trade is conducted along the St. Johns River and is 

 served by a belt-line railroad with spur tracks leading to most of the 

 wholesale houses. Express terminals and downtown hotels, restau- 

 rants, and retail stores are near at hand. A private cold-storage 

 plant is in this area and a public cold-storage plant is about 1 mile 

 from the section. The combined equipment of these plants is suffi- 

 cient to freeze about 35,000 pounds of fish per day, and storage 

 space is available for about 2,000,000 pounds of frozen fish. This 

 can be expanded to accommodate 4,000,000 pounds. Siding space 

 at these plants is available to accommodate 12 freight cars at one time. 

 Comparatively little advantage is taken of these cold-storage facili- 

 ties, although it is believed the trade would be in a more stable and 



