762 



U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



That part of the catch of a species of fish which is to be frozen is 

 determined by the kind of fish, its adaptabiUty for preserving in 

 certain manners, the locahty of capture, and custom. Also, freezing 

 sometimes is an intermediate step in preservation, especially with 

 sturgeon and whitefish, as quantities of these are frozen and later 

 smoked. While no complete figures are available over a period of 

 years of the amount of certain species of fish frozen annually compared 

 with their catch, it is certain that each j^ear the ratio of amount frozen 

 to catch is increasing with many species, such as whiting, halibut, 

 salmon, cod, and haddock. 



As with the preservation of other food products, the actual season 

 for freezing fisher^^ products coincides with the season when the prod- 

 uct is in abundance, and this season varies with the fish preserved. 

 Hahbut are in season from February 15 to November 15; mackerel, 

 April to December; whiting, May to December; salmon, April to 

 December; croaker, February to November; butfcerfish, May to No- 

 vember; ground fish and herring, all yar; and so on. As a general 



rule, most of the species fro- 

 zen are in abundance during 

 the six warm months of the 



SECTION 



MILLIONS OF PO U N S 



NEW ENGLAND 



PACIFIC 5.AUSKA 



NORTH CENTRAL! 

 WEST 



SOUTH CtNTRALj 



Figure 9.— Production of frozen fishery products in the 

 various geographical sections, 1929 



year. 



During 1929 nearly three- 

 fourths of the frozen pack 

 was put up during the 

 months of June to November, 

 inclusive. The amount fro- 

 zen during August was larg- 

 est, and accounted for 15 per 

 cent of the total. The 

 amounts frozen during the 

 months of June, July, and 

 November were about equal, each accounting for about 12 per cent 

 of the total. A comparatively small amount was frozen during the 

 months from January to May, inclusive. The least quantity was 

 frozen in March. From May on the volume of the trade increased 

 and continued at a high level until November. During the latter 

 period about 15,000,000 pounds were packed monthly on the average 

 which was about three times the average monthly freezings for the 

 early period of the year — January to May. The action of the trade 

 in 1929 was practically a duplicate of a normal year as to the season 

 when the trade was at its highest and lowest levels. 



The New England section led in the volume of fish frozen during 

 1929, for 39,511,000 pounds were put up there, which was about one- 

 third of the total pack. Ground fish, mackerel, whiting, herring, and 

 squid accounted for 81 per cent of the entire pack in this section. 

 In the Pacifi c section, including Alaska, 33,318,000 pounds were frozen, 

 which is somewhat more than one-fourth of the total pack. Salmon 

 and halibut were the leading species preserved in this section, these 

 accounting for 70 per cent of the production in this section. In the 

 Middle Atlantic section 24,944,000 pounds w^ere frozen, or about one- 

 fifth of the total. A large variety of diversified species were frozen 

 here, although those most predominant were mackerel, butterfish, 

 whiting, weakfish, and shellfish. The freezers in this section preserved 



