2 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The very threatening situation confronting the fishery industries 

 in 1920 continued throughout 1921, with shght indications of im- 

 provement hite in the year. As a result there was further curtail- 

 ment in the production of important fisheries and retrenchment in 

 operations. In the New England vessel fisheries centering at Boston 

 and Gloucester, Mass., and Portland, Me., the decrease in production 

 in 1921 as compared with 1920 amounted to 27,415,595 pounds in 

 quantity and $2,504,384 in value, a decrease since 1918 in excess 

 of 54,000,000 pounds in quantity and $4,750,000 in value. The 

 average price per pound received for these fish in 1916 was 3.44 cents; 

 in 1918, 5.12 cents; in 1920, 4.61 cents; and in 1921, 3.79 cents. 

 The pack of sardines in Maine in 1919 was 2,450,268 cases, 

 valued at $11,933,986; in 1920, 1,877,757 cases, valued at $7,435,- 

 056; and in 1921, 1,350,631 cases, valued at $3,960,916. Such 

 well-known fishes as red snappers taken in the fisheries of the 

 Gulf of Mexico were marketed with difficulty and considerable 

 quantities sold on consignment at less than the cost of production. 

 In Alaska the pack of salmon in 1918 was 6,605,835 cases, valued 

 at $51,041,949; in 1920, 4,429,463 cases, valued at $35,602,800; in 

 1921, 2,596,826 cases, valued at $19,632,744. In 1920 the pack of 

 sardines in California exceeded 1,000,000 cases, with a value of 

 nearly $3,000,000, and in 1921 it amounted to 415,587 cases, valued 

 at $2,346,446. 



Post-war readjustments have compelled a closer study to be made 

 of costs of operation and means of effecting economies in operation. 

 This is reflected in the increased demand upon the bureau for the 

 service this division performs, particularly in the fields of statistics, 

 technology, and merchandising. The increase in the division's 

 appropriation beginning with July 1, 1921, has made possible an 

 enlarged program of operations, and a number of investigations 

 which promise to yield important practical results have been 

 initiated. 



SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS. 



During the year statistical canvasses were made of the fisheries of 

 Maryland and Virginia for 1920, of the take of shad and alewives 

 in the same States during the fishing season of 1921, and of the 

 canning and by-products industries of the United States in 1921. 

 The last was confined to the number of plants operated, the raw 

 products utilized, and the quantity and value of the finished products. 

 The landings of the vessel fisheries at the ports of Boston and Glouces- 

 ter, Mass., Portland, Me., and Seattle, Wash., have been collected 

 as heretofore and published as monthly and annual bulletins. The 

 results of these canvasses are embodied in the present report, to- 

 gether with a summary of the cold-storage holdings of frozen fish in 

 1921 and quantities frozen; the ciuantity of fishery products taken 

 in California in 1921, shown by species and by months; the fishery 

 products received at the Municipal Fish Wharf and Market, Wash- 

 mgton, D. C; the shad and alewife fishery of the Potomac River 

 in 1921; and certain sponge statistics. 



In fisheries technology noteworthy progress has been made in the 

 fields of net preservation and brine freezing of fish, and in the methods 

 of canning such fishery products as sardines. In June there was 



