8 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



fish meal, with the result that provision is being made for the more 

 extended saving of this material. For example, until recently not 

 more than half of the waste from the shrimp industry of the South 

 Atlantic and Gulf States was saved, being converted into fertilizer 

 which commanded a relatively low price. Feeding tests made by the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture in 

 cooperation with the Bureau of Fisheries indicate that shrimp bran, 

 properly prepared, is fully the equal of fish meal for feeding hogs. 

 This information has been brought directly to the attention of per- 

 sons in the shrimp industry, and improved methods for the prepara- 

 tion of shrimp bran are being perfected, resulting in the saving of 

 much larger quantities of this valuable material than formerly. 

 From analyses it appears that shrimp meal may be expected to con- 

 tain from 43 to 47 per cent of protein. There are indications that as 

 feed it possesses other properties which tend to increase its value for 

 such purposes. 



As a direct result of these activities, in excess of 2,500 tons of men- 

 haden meal and shrimp meal were produced in 1919, with prospects 

 for a rapid annual increase in the output of these commodities in 

 regions where heretofore they were unknown. In this field the 

 Bureau has continued to receive effective cooperation from the Bu- 

 reau of Animal Industry in the conduct of feeding tests of various 

 kinds of fish meals, in deciding their suitability for feeding purposes, 

 and in bringing to the attention of hog growers the value of these pro- 

 tein feeds. To properly safeguard the industry a number of addi- 

 tional feeding tests have been arranged for and will be started in the 

 near future. These will include shrimp meal from drying platforms, 

 shark meal, meal made from fish cuttings, and meals containing high 

 percentages of oil or made from decomposed fish. 



Satisfactory progress in the production of leather from fishskins 

 and the establishment of fisheries for sharks and other unused aquatic 

 animals are to be recorded, and provision has been made for determin- 

 ing more definitely the special properties of such leathers for the use 

 of the trade. It is to be noted that the demand for dried shark fins, 

 which the Bureau has stimulated, now exceeds the supply. The re- 

 ceipt of this commodity at San Francisco, the center of the industry 

 on the Pacific coast, amoimts to about 5 tons per month, much the 

 larger portion being imported from the west coast of Mexico. Per- 

 sons engaged in fisheries for sharks or fisheries in which sharks are 

 incidentally taken are being urged to save all parts of these fishes 

 and are furnished with detailed information on the subject 



INVESTIGATION CONCERNING PRESERVATION OF FISH WITH SALT. 



The preliminary' investigation of the principles of preserving fish 

 with salt has been completed and the results have been published (as 

 Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 884) and made available to all 

 persons interested in the subject. This work has been of material 

 benefit in clarifying our kuowledge of the factors influencing salting 

 processes, and therefore in pointing the way to possible improve- 

 ments in existing practices. Among other things it has shown that 

 the purer salts, which contain only a fractional pei* cent of impurities 

 such as lime and magnesium, penetrate the tissues of the fish more 



