454 



V. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



comparison. Following such a policy presents certain problems. In 

 the case of fish there is little difficulty since in very rare instances are 

 such products reported in units of measure other than pounds. For 

 shellfish, however, the units of measure may be bushels, sacks, barrels, 

 or thousands of shellfish, gallons of meats, etc. These many units 

 make standardization difficult, but when coupled with the wide varia- 

 tion in the requirements or definition of some of these units in the 

 various States the problem becomes even more complex. 



All bivalve mollusks are reported in pounds of meats in the detailed 

 catch tables presented in this report. In addition, there are included 

 supplementary tables for most of the sections, which give data on the 

 production in bushels. These supplementary tables also give the 

 production of certain other shellfish, such as crabs, in number. 



Oysters.—Trohahlj the greatest problem in presentation of fishery 

 statistics in uniform units of measure is in the case of oysters. Usually 

 the production of oysters on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is reported to 

 Bureau agents in bushels ; and prior to the data obtained for the year 

 1930 conversion from bushels to pounds of meats was effected on the 

 basis of a uniform yield of 7 pounds of meats to the bushel. However, 

 more recent investigations have shown considerable variation from 

 this figure. There follows a table which gives the results of these 

 studies of the measures used for oysters in the various States and of 

 the average yields per bushel. This table presents the factors that 

 have been used in the oyster statistics given in this report. 



Measures and yields of oysters 



» Data on yield for the Chesapeake, and the South Atlantic and Gulf States are for 1936. Other data are 

 for 1035. 



Other mollusks. — The following table shows the conversion factors 

 for various mollusks, other than oysters, used in this report. 



