FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 19 3 7 167 



and oysters in the shell has so completely utilized the available supply 

 in the Chesapeake area that the canning of this mollusk in this region 

 has been almost abandoned. 



As the pack decreased in the Chesapeake Bay, increasing quantities 

 of oysters were canned on the Gulf coast to supply the important 

 Middle Western market, and in 1936 the pack in Mississippi of 

 223,000 standard cases was more than half that of the entire Atlantic 

 and Gulf coasts. However, a newer and most important source of 

 canned oysters is the State of Washington, where the Japanese or 

 Pacific oyster is canned. In 1931, the pack in Washington was less 

 than 8,000 standard cases, but by 1936 the oyster canning industry 

 in Washington had grown to the point where its pack amounted to 

 119,000 cases or 23 percent of the domestic production. 



COMMERCIAL ASPECTS OF SEAWEED INDUSTRIES 



Considerable interest is shown in the various seaweed industries of 

 the United States as is evidenced by the numerous inquiries which the 

 Bureau receives and by the relatively large number of business men 

 interested in the possibilities of new ventures and developments in the 

 utilization of seaweeds. During the past year, several large chemical 

 manufacturers sent representatives to confer with the Division's tech- 

 nologists regarding the preparation and utilization of sodium alginate, 

 a widely used product made from kelp. Much interest is also shown 

 in kelp meal as a mineral supplement for livestock rations. 



With special reference to eel grass, it is of interest that this seaweed 

 once furnished a considerable industry in New Jersey, Virginia, Mary- 

 land, and elsewhere along the Atlantic coast. An investigation made 

 by the Division during the year brought out the fact that the current 

 domestic requirements of this product are now furnished almost en- 

 tirely from foreign sources. With the depletion of domestic beds of 

 eel grass, the manufacturing consumers, who found it especially suit- 

 able as an insulating material, considered it necessary to import sup- 

 plies from Nova Scotia, but more recentlj'^ the supply has become 

 limited there. It has, consequently, become necessary to import a 

 European seaweed, although it is shorter and in other ways less suitable 

 than the native product. 



MARKETS FOR PERIWINKLES (LITTORINA SP.) 



A study was made during the year of the commercial aspects of the 

 capture and marketing of periwinkles. Information obtained by the 

 Division's agents indicates that periwinkles are rather abundant in 

 New England and that a small quantity is shipped from Maine each 

 year to wholesale markets in Boston and New York. They are 

 packed for shipment in the shell with seaweed and ice in either boxes 

 or barrels. Quantities of periwinkles also are taken in Rhode Island 

 and are used there largely for bait, both in commercial and sport 

 fishing, although some quantities are shipped from Rhode Island to 

 the New York market. Shipments also arrive in Boston regularly by 

 steamer from Nova Scotia. It is understood that the meat of this 

 form is somewhat similar to that of the hard clam. A customary 

 way of preparing it for food is by boiling in the shell, and the broth 

 resulting therefrom constitutes the edible product which is most 

 popular among people of Italian descent. 



