FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 19 3 7 165 



of his staff, met to discuss policies of general cooperative activities 

 in connection with the Di^^sion's new fishery market news service. 

 It was pointed out by the Division's staff that funds were so limited 

 for this new work that it would be impossible to communicate by tele- 

 graph on a daily basis the voluminous market information collected by 

 the Division to State marketing offices for their dissemination to inter- 

 ested parties. Consequently, it was the concensus of the meeting 

 that for the present these market news reports should be mailed to 

 the State agencies and those having facilities woidd develop means 

 for dissemination. It was further suggested that as the States de- 

 veloped suitable procedures for dissemination, adequate funds might 

 be made available by the States to cover telegraph costs or to conduct 

 some of the work of collection of data in their States, which would 

 relieve the Division of portions of its expense in order that it could 

 take over communication costs. The policy of mailing these market 

 news reports to State marketing offices has been followed by the 

 Division and some of the States have already indicated that they are 

 conducting studies in connection wdth the marketing of fish in order 

 that they may more intelligent!}^ disseminate this new type of 

 information. 



TRENDS OF THE BLUE CRAB INDUSTRY 



An interesting geographical movement of the blue crab industry 

 was revealed by a study of the official statistics of the products of 

 tliis industry. As late as 1930 the States of Maryland and Virginia 

 dominated the fishery for this crustacean, accounting for nearly 

 68,759,000 pounds. In that year the entire marine coastal area of 

 the South Atlantic and Gulf States contributed only 7,024,000 

 pounds to the domestic catch. By 1936 the Chesapeake production 

 had decreased to 43,670,000 pounds while that of the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States had increased to 29,831,000 pounds. The outstand- 

 ing States contributing to this latter production in 1936 were Louisi- 

 ana, 12,942,000 pounds; North Carolina, 6,591,000 pounds; and 

 Florida, 3,194,000 pounds. With the development of this more 

 southern crab fishery, fresh-cooked crab meat from the area is becom- 

 ing a factor of increasing importance in the northern market. 



For instance, the production of fresh-cooked crab meat in Louisiana 

 in 1931 amounted to only 175,000 pounds, while in 1936 it had reached 

 1,035,000 pounds. During the same period the production of fresh- 

 cooked crab meat in North Carolina increased from 188,000 pounds 

 to 432,000 pounds, and in Florida from a practicallv nonexistent in- 

 dustry in 1931 to 316,000 pomids in 1936. This rapid growth of the 

 fresh-cooked crab meat industry in the more southern States is con- 

 trasted with the decrease in the volume of fresh-cooked crab meat 

 produced in the Chesapeake States from 5,794,000 pounds in 1931 to 

 3,581,000 pounds in 1936. 



Of interest in connection with the domestic production of crab meat 

 and its changing geographic trend are imports of foreign canned crab 

 meat. According to preliminary data, imports of this commodit}'', 

 which emanates principally from Japan, amounted to 11,157,000 

 pounds in 1937, which exceeds the imports in any year since 1931. 

 The average imports for the 5 years prior to 1937 were 9,116,000 

 pounds. 



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