174 



U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Production of fresh, frozen, and smoked packaged fishery products in the United 

 States, various years, 1926 to 1930 



1 Figures on value are not available. 



2 Cusk, and pollock are included with hake. 



FROZEN-FISH TRADE 

 FISH, FROZEN 



In 1930 the freezing plants in the United States and Alaska, report- 

 ing their activities to the Government, packed 139,297,228 pounds of 

 frozen fishery products. These products at the time they were held 

 in cold-storage plants were estimated to be valued at $16,500,000. 

 This is the largest frozen pack of fishery products on record and 

 exceeded the volume of the pack in 1929 by 15 per cent. Over 60 

 per cent of the pack consisted of six groups of fishery products. Of 

 first importance was the cod, haddock, haddock fillets, hake, and 

 pollock group with 17 per cent of the total. Haddock fillets accounted 

 for the bulk of the volume of this group. Of next importance were 

 the salmons, with 12 per cent of the total. Halibut made up 10 per 

 cent of the total; mackerel, 8 per cent; whiting, 7 per cent; and sea 

 herring, 6 per cent. Considerable quantities of shellfish; squid; weak- 

 fish, including southern ''sea trout"; sablefish or black cod; and Cisco 

 or lake herring, including bluefin, blackfin, and chub, also were frozen. 

 Frozen squid and sea herring are marketed primarily for bait, although 

 quantities of each are used for human consumption. 



The above pack of frozen fish does not represent the entire amount 

 of fish frozen in the United States, for there are many small private 

 freezers which do not report their activities to the Government. 

 During late years a considerable number of privately owned freezing- 

 establishments have been preparing frozen packaged fishery products. 

 The larger of these establishments are now reporting their activities 

 to the Government although a few of the smaller firms still make no 

 report on their activities. However, it is estimated that the figures 

 presented herewith cover about 98 per cent of the trade. 



An idea of the production of frozen packaged fish may be obtained 

 from the review on the packaged-fish trade shown elsewhere in this 

 report. In brief, according to this, the frozen pack of packaged fishery 

 products in 1930 amounted to 22,216,131 pounds, valued at $3,411,471 

 This is an increase of 2 per cent when compared with the volume of 

 these products packed in 1929. 



