REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 9 



In 1922 there were 56 plants engaged in converting oyster shells 

 into poultry grit and lime. The poultry grit produced from this 

 source amounted to 236,021 tons, valued at $2,005,838, and the lime 

 to 93,168 tons, valued at $431,213. 



Other by-products of the fisheries included fish glue, shark hides, 

 agar-agar, pearl or fish-scale essence, shark fins, whalebones (skele- 

 tons) , whale tails, ambergris, herring skins, and alewife scales, to the 

 value of $386,205. 



FROZEN-FISH TRADE. 



Statistics of the cold-storage holdings of frozen fish have been 

 collected and published by the Bureau of Markets, Department of 

 Agriculture, beginning with October, 1916. These reports give the 

 holdings on the fifteenth day of each month. Through the courtesy 

 of that bureau arrangements were made in December, 1921, for the 

 Bureau of Fisheries to publish and disseminate this information, 

 beginning with the returns for January 15, 1922, in the form of a 

 monthly statistical bulletin. This bulletin gives the holdings by 

 species and sections, total holdings for the current month and for 

 the same month of the previous year, the five-year average, holdings 

 for the previous month, and the quantity of each species frozen dur- 

 ing the month. 



In 1922 there were in operation 274 freezers that were devoted 

 wholly or partly to the cold storage of fish. The holdings were very 

 much smaller in 1922 than they had been on the corresponding 

 dates in several previous years. The smallest holdings were in May 

 and the largest in November. 



The greater part of the freezing of fish, or 80 per cent, was in the 

 New England, Middle Atlantic (including the Great Lakes in 

 New York and Pennsylvania), and the Northwestern States, which 

 include Montana, Wj^oming, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, The 

 total quantity of fish frozen during the year was 75,453,674 pounds. 

 Of this quantity, 24.67 per cent was frozen in New England, 27.12 

 per cent in the Middle Atlantic, and 27.94 per cent in the North- 

 western section. Compared with the previous year, there was a 

 decrease of 3,720.218 pounds in the total quantity frozen. The prin- 

 cipal species and quantities frozen during the year 1922 were 

 salmon, 12,143.194 pounds; ciscoes, 10,245,252 pounds: herring, 

 7,964,778 pounds: mackerel, 6,165,248 pounds; whiting, 6,058,126 

 pounds: and halibut, 5,122.396 pounds. Several other species were 

 frozen in large quantities, and miscellaneous fishes not shown sepa- 

 rately by species amounted to 10,956,348 pounds. 



NEW ENGLAND VESSEL FISHERIES. 



The bureau through its local agents has collected statistics of 

 the vessel fisheries at Boston and Gloucester,"" Mass., and Portland, 

 Me., which have been published in monthly and annual statistical 

 bulletins. Two annual bulletins have been issued, one showing the 

 catch by months and the other by fishing grounds. There was a 

 decrease in the number of trips with an increase in the quantity and 

 a decrease in the value of the products landed at these ports as com- 

 pared with the previous year. At Portland, while there was a de- 



