444 



U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Heads and cheeks. — To many, a cod head, well cooked, is the choic- 

 est part of the fish, but unless one is at a shore station or aboard one 

 of the vessels when fishing it is impossible to get one. If some one 

 were to bring heads down to the coast States in brine doubtless he 

 could build up quite a market for them. As nearly all of the nutri- 

 ment is in the lower half of the head, a small band saw could be 

 installed and the upper half of the head, which is bony and contains 

 but little nutriment, cut off and thrown away and only the lower 

 part, which contains the fleshy cheeks and the succulent tongue, 

 saved. When glue and fertilizer plants are established at the sta- 

 tions, as will doubtless be done in the near future, the upper part 

 of the head, which is rich in glue, could be used for this purpose. 



Should it not be considered desirable to save the heads, the cheeks 

 (a good-sized piece of choice flesh on each side of the head) could be 

 cut out and preserved. Halibut cheeks, which are no more choice 

 than cod cheeks, are always to be found in our larger coast fish 

 markets. 



Bones. — Fish bones are coming into quite general use by preparers 

 of chicken food. These people grind up the fish bones, and, mixing 

 them with other ingredients, obtain an excellent food for chickens. 

 At present it does not pay to ship the bones, owing to their lightness 

 as compared with their large bulk, but machines for grinding them 

 could be introduced and the powder obtained shipped profitably. 



Salt. — A large amount of salt is thrown away annually because of 

 the belief amongst packers generally that salt once used in pickle, 

 though not dissolved because of the excess employed, becomes ex- 

 hausted. That this is not true can be demonstrated readily by dis- 

 solving it in water and testing it with a salinometer. While it 

 might not be desirable to use it a second time in, the salting tank, it 

 could be washed and used in curing snappers and other fish that 

 are to be marketed in a pickled condition. 



LOSSES IN WEIGHT 



There are but few data available on this coast showing the loss in 

 weight in dressing and curing cod. The records of two typical ves- 

 sels of the fleet for the years 1922 to 1925 show the following num- 

 bers of fish landed, their cured weight as landed at the home port, 

 the average weight per cured fish, and the average dried weight and 

 average round weight for the four years: 



Year 



1922. 

 1923. 

 1924. 

 1925. 



Average weight per fish as landed for the 4 years . 

 Average round weight per fish for the 4 years 



Number of 

 fish 



324, 440 

 368, 812 

 408, 778 

 394, 001 



P° unds pounds 



1, 409, 875 

 1,352,711 

 1, 580, 771 

 1,544,629 



4.345 

 3.699 

 3.898 

 3.920 



3.965 

 11.250 



These fish had been dressed (head, entrails, and the greater part 

 of the backbone removed) and salted in kenches in the holds for 

 from two weeks to three months before being landed. All reports 



