460 



U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



fill, especially in China. They soon discovered, however, that the 

 principal consumers of this excellent fish were Occidentals. A few 

 small sample lots were shipped to American and other markets, 

 but these proved unsatisfactory because of their unattractive appear- 

 ance, due largely to wrong selection of fish to be used, the grade of 

 salt selected, and poor methods of dressing and curing the product. 

 The Japanese were quick to see what was wrong, and with their 

 usual thoroughness sent out various trained men to study the meth- 

 ods followed in the producing countries and the likes and dislikes of 

 the consuming markets. This was continued for a number of years 

 and the product prepared by these men, or by the fishermen trained 

 under them, slowly found its way into certain occidental markets. 



The following table shows the importations into this country of 

 dry-salted cod from Japan from 1912 to date : 



Imports of cured and preserved cod from Japan, 1912 to 1922 



Fiscal year ending June 30— 



1912 



1913 



1914 



1915 



1916 



1917 . 



1918 



Six months — 



1918 (Julyl to Dec. 31) 



Calendar year— 



1919 



1920 



1921 



1922 



Pounds 



1, 585, 550 



14,781,631 



2, 592, 226 

 590, 320 



92, 482 



Value 



$107, 185 



390, 024 

 294, 397 

 90, 914 



9,558 



1 Of these, 672,732 pounds, valued at $46,794, were from Russia in Asia. 



The breaking out of the World War proved a golden opportunity 

 for them. The combatants in Europe very quickly absorbed all 

 of the European production, a large portion of which, especially 

 from Norway, had previously found a market in the West Indies 

 and South and Central America. A considerable part of the fish 

 from Newfoundland, Canada, and the Atlantic seaboard of the 

 United States, which previous to the outbreak of the war had also 

 been marketed in the above sections, was attracted to Europe by 

 the high prices. This led to a heavy demand for cod from the 

 Pacific to supply the shortage created in South and Central America 

 and the West Indies, and our industry enjoyed great prosperity 

 from 1915 until the great slump came in 1921. 



At the time when the war broke out salt codfish was on the free 

 list, but it was difficult for foreign fishermen to ship fish because 

 of the provisions in our law preventing a foreign fishing vessel from 

 sailing direct from the fishing banks to one of our ports, selling its 

 catch, outfitting for another trip, and then returning direct to the 

 banks. 



In April, 1918, in order to facilitate the importation of fish, the 

 Secretary of Commerce issued an order suspending the operation 

 of the law forbidding the landing of catches of foreign fishing 

 vessels direct from the banks. The result was that Japanese fishing 

 vessels were permitted to come here direct from the fishing banks 

 (in a few instances the vessels caught their fish on the Alaska 

 banks), market their catch, buy salt and other supplies, and return 

 direct to the fishing banks. The Secretary's order was withdrawn 

 on July 15, 1921. While the law was suspended the following 

 Japanese fishing vessels landed cargoes as noted below : 



