150 U.S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



to solve the technical problems of the industry, and the dissemination 

 of authoritative and practical information to the fishery industries 

 and the public. Results of technological investigations and mar- 

 keting studies are published in separate documents as each project is 

 completed. The information obtained from statistical surveys is 

 published in part 2 of this report, wliich includes detailed statistical 

 information for the year 1931 that has become available since the 

 issuance of the previous report,^ together with such summarized 

 statements and interpretations of the statistics as are deemed sig- 

 nificant and useful. In the preparation of this report, members of the 

 Division's staff have taken part and their assistance is appreciatively 

 acknowledged. 



Part 1. OPERATIONS OF THE DIVISION 

 COLLECTION OF STATISTICS 



The statistical work of the Division in 1932, as in former years, 

 included the collection and dissemination of statistics on the catch of 

 fishery products and the gear employed in making the catch and 

 statistics of related fishery industries. In the former group are 

 statistics that are intended for the use of the fishery biologist upon 

 which to base conservation measures. They are also valuable for 

 economic purposes. This is especially true of statistics of the land- 

 ings of fish at principal fishing ports, which are published monthly. 

 In the second group are statistics that are of use mainly for economic 

 or trade purposes. These include statistics of the manufactured 

 fishery products and byproducts of the United States, cold-storage 

 holdings of fish and amounts of fish frozen in the United States, 

 marine-animal oil production, and similar statistics. 



Continuing with the plan of making annual general statistical 

 surveys of the fisheries of various geographical sections, the Division 

 in 1932 under the direction of F. F. Johnson canvassed the fisheries 

 prosecuted in our entire coastal, lake, and Mississippi River sections, 

 obtaining catch figures for 1931. Continuous annual catch figures 

 are now available for the Great Lakes from 1913, Pacific Coast States 

 from 1922, South Atlantic and Gulf States from 1927, New England 

 States from 1928, and the Middle Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay 

 States from 1929. The survey made of the fisheries of the Mississippi 

 River and tributaries for 1931 was the first complete canvass made 

 since 1922. 



In addition to the general catch statistics, the collection and (or) 

 publication of statistics on special subjects for the year 1932, was 

 continued during the year, as follows: The landings of fish by Amer- 

 ican fishing vessels at the ports of Boston and Gloucester, Mass., 

 Portland, Maine, and Seattle, Wash, (published monthly); landings 

 of halibut at North Pacific coast ports (published monthly); catch of 

 mackerel in the North Atlantic fishery; cold-storage holdings of 

 frozen and cured fish and amount of fish frozen, which are furnished 

 by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics (pubhshed monthly); 

 production, consumption, and holdings of marine-animal oils of the 

 United States and Alaska (published quarterly by the Bureau of the 

 Census); production of manufactured fishery products and by- 

 products of the United States and Alaska during 1932; the catch of 



' Fishery Industries of the United States, 1931. By R. H. Fiedler, Appendix II to the Report of the 

 U.S. Commissioner of Fisheries for 1932, pp. 97-440. 



