540 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



jurisdiction. It is always best, where possible, to use the city water 

 that has been purified for drinking purposes. 



On the Pacific coast halibut are washed with a hose. In some 

 freezers the halibut are laid out on the floor, white side up, heads 

 all in the same direction. A strong stream of water is played on 

 the fish by means of a hose and is directed as much as possible into 

 the belly cavities. In other places each fish is raised from the floor 

 and given a momentary squirt of water with a hose. 



PANNING 



Smaller fish nearly always are panned. (See fig. 7, p. 531.) Hali- 

 but, salmon, swordfish, and sturgeon are frozen without panning. 



The practical advantages of packing the smaller varieties of fish 

 in metal pans and freezing them in cakes have made the practice 

 almost universal. By this means the fish are handled conveniently 

 before and after they are put into the sharp freezer. The labor of 

 handling and glazing the frozen fish is greatly reduced and simpli- 

 fied; boxes that would contain only about 125 pounds of singly- 

 frozen fish contain 150 or more pounds frozen in cakes. In storage, 

 exposure of the fish, as well as drying and rusting, is reduced. In 

 shipment, breakage and abrasion are diminished. The disadvantages 

 of pan freezing are that the rate of freezing is retarded because the 

 surface of fish exposed to refrigeration is reduced. It has been shown 

 already that rapid freezing produces better frozen fish than slow 

 freezing does. The pressure of the fish against each other causes 

 some distortion, and damage frequently is done to the fish when it is 

 attempted to break a cake when only a part of it can be used at one 

 time. 



The pans are made of galvanized sheet iron, usually of 22 to 24 

 gauge. The size is not standardized, but custom has established 

 a pan that ranges from 16 to 18 inches in width, 26 to 28 inches in 

 length and 2y 2 to Sy 2 inches in depth. They hold from 25 to 35 

 pounds of fish. A typical example, taken from measurements made 

 in a large freezer, has the following dimensions: Bottom of pan, 

 15% inches wide, 25 inches long; top, l7y 2 inches wide, 26% inches 

 long ; depth, 3 inches. The edges are of rolled wire. 



Four % or y 2 inch holes are made in the bottom of the pan to 

 permit water and slime to drain off. In most freezers no lid is 

 provided for the pans, in which case the sides of the pan slope out- 

 ward, so the cake can be removed easily. In a few cases the sides of 

 the pan are vertical and a lid is used to cover it. These lids keep 

 drip out of pans that rest upon one another, keep " snow " from fall- 

 ing on the fish in the freezer, and undoubtedly prevent some loss of 

 weight from drying in the freezer. Pans with lids have plain-cut 

 edges. 



The panning operation is most often done on tables attached by 

 brackets to the side of the washing trough, usually 4 to 8 in number 

 and about 2 feet apart. Moderate-sized fish are alternated, heads 

 and tails, in one or more rows so as to fit nicely into the pans. 

 Eels are bent around ; large fish are arranged as orderly as possible. 

 Some ingenuity is required to place the fish neatly. The heads 

 point outward, if possible, so that the tails may be protected against 



