152 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



FOREWORD 



This report constitutes a summary of the activities of the Division 

 of Fishery Industries as well as a review of the fishery statistics col- 

 lected by the Division during the past year. As its name indicates, 

 this Division of the Bureau is concerned with the activities and welfare 

 of the commercial fisheries and fishery industries and the fishermen 

 and shoresmen engaged therein; the fish canning and preserving in- 

 dustries; and the trade in fishery products. Its functions include the 

 conduct of studies or activities: (1) To determine the extent and magni- 

 tude of our aquatic resources and the commercial importance of our 

 fishery industries; (2) to learn the economic condition of fishermen and 

 shoresmen engaged in the fishery industry, their place in the national 

 economy, and what measures can be taken to improve their well-being; 

 (3) to determine the character, utility, and effectiveness of different 

 forms of fishing apparatus and vessels, suggest improvements therein, 

 and discourage the use of those forms which are unnecessarily de- 

 structive or unprofitable; (4) to learn the effect of fishing on the supply 

 of fish and suggest measures to promote orderly and sustained pro- 

 duction; (5) to study and develop fisheries for hitherto unutilized 

 fishes; (6) to investigate the preservation of fishery products, suggest 

 improved methods, and discourage wasteful practices in this field; (7) 

 to ascertain what use can be made of aquatic products not now utilized 

 to economic advantage; (8) to inquire into the nutritive value of 

 aquatic foods for man and his domestic animals, and promote the con- 

 sumption of these foods; (9) to ascertain the means and methods of 

 transporting fishery products on land and sea and recommend economi- 

 cal practices; (10) to inquire into the condition and extent of the 

 wholesale and retail trade in fishery products and promote the more 

 orderly marketing of our fishery harvest; (11) to introduce useful 

 foreign methods or processes of capture, preservation, utilization, or 

 marketing fishery products; (12) to handle matters relative to the ad- 

 ministration of the act which authorizes cooperative associations of 

 producers of aquatic products; and (13) to conduct the fishery market 

 news service authorized by act of Congress in 1937. 



Results of the various technological, economic, and marketing in- 

 vestigations carried on by the Division are published in separate docu- 

 ments as each project is completed, and a brief resume of each current 

 project is contained in this report. Information obtained from statis- 

 tical surveys is published in part 2 of this report, which includes all the 

 detailed statistical information that has become available since issu- 

 ance of the previous report,^ together with such summarized statements 

 and interpretations of the statistics as are deemed significant and 

 useful. 



Part 1. OPERATIONS OF THE DIVISION 



COOPERATION WITH OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES 



In line with established policy, the Division cooperated during the 

 year with other Federal agencies where their activities required infor- 

 mation or advice concerning the technology, economics, or statistics 

 of the fishery industries, and, similarly, this Division utilized the ex- 



2 Fishery Industries of the United States, 1936, by R.JH. Fiedler: Appendix I to the Report of the U. S. 

 Commissioner of Fisheries for 1937, pp. 1-276. 



