BUREAU OF FISHERIES 93 
RESCUE OPERATIONS 
In spite of the fact that the salvage work was somewhat restricted 
by the development of the 9-foot channel in the Upper Mississippi 
River, the number of fish rescued in that area was slightly above last 
year’s figures; 50,500,000 were salvaged from the overflowed sloughs, 
of which over 50,000,000 were returned directly to the main river 
channels. The provision of artificial cultural ponds in the areas 
adjacent to the pools created by the new dams is an expedient of 
proved success. An excellent hatch of bass and other species has 
been achieved in the ponds already constructed, and at the close of 
the fiscal year some 400,000 bass fry were being stocked in the storage 
reservoirs. In the future, the removal of fish by means of rescue 
operations will be discontinued, and the current supply of game fish 
in the Mississippi River will be augmented by the output of these 
large ponds. 
FISHERY INDUSTRIES 
ECONOMIC AND MARKETING INVESTIGATIONS 
Fishery trade in San Francisco Bay area—aA survey made during 
the year showed that the annual per-capita consumption of fish and 
shellfish in the San Francisco Bay area.is about 25 pounds, or nearly 
twice that of the entire United States. About 90 percent of the fish 
handled in the area originates along the California coast. The sur- 
vey provided much useful data concerning supply, marketing chan- 
nels, nature of market, and trade practices and probiems. 
Marketing shad on the Atlantic coast—In addition to large and 
consistent decreases in the total supplies of shad on the Atlantic coast, 
there has been an apparent decline in the popularity of this species. 
As. a result of a study of the markets for shad, it was found that 
decreased sales for shad have occurred in retail stores rather than 
through public eating houses. In order to stimulate demand the 
publication resulting from the survey recommends, among other 
things, that boned shad as well as half shad or other smaller portions 
be featured in the various sales channels. 
Frozen fish—Owing to the mild winter of 1936-37, fishing opera- 
tions were conducted almost continuously throughout the winter. 
This condition, coupled with retarded sales due to floods in the Mid- 
dle West, resulted in unusually large holdings of fish in cold storage, 
which had a depressing effect on markets for fish in general. Con- 
sequently, appropriate legislation was introduced in Congress and 
enacted into law to authorize the Federal Surplus Commodities Cor- 
poration to purchase surplus fish up to $1,000,000 in value. This 
program had a stimulating effect in permitting fishing to be resumed 
on a more normal basis and in creating a demand for fish in areas 
where this surplus fish was distributed. 
Retail sale of fishery products —A study was made during the year 
to determine the order of importance of the 6 species of fish or shell- 
fish leading in retail sales of about 60 cities of this country. While 
the study was designed primarily to develop basic information on 
which to investigate the feasibility of inaugurating a service for the 
collection of retail prices of these commodities, it was most interesting 
in showing the geographical variation in preferences for the several 
