368 MARINE PRODUCTS OF COMMERCE 



may be stored depends upon the species of fish. Mackerel may be stored at 77° F 

 (25° C) for a month or six weeks, but herring will not remain in good condition 

 at so high a temperature. Both of these fishes should be stored under brine. 

 Fresh brine is preferable to that formed during the salting process. 



The Salting of Cod and Other Ground Fish 



The cod-salting industry is the most important salt-fish industry in the United 

 States. In 1946 approximately 15,500,000 pounds of salted cod, valued at $1,900,- 

 000, were prepared. The centers of the industry on the Atlantic Coast are 

 Gloucester, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine in the United States; Fortune Bay 

 and St. Johns in Newfoundland; and Halifax, Lunenberg, and Digby in Nova 

 Scotia. The chief cod-salting plants on the Pacific Coast are in Seattle and 

 Anacortes, Washington; in San Francisco, California; and in Unga, Nome, Sanak, 

 Unimak, Herendeen, Nagai, Popof, Pirate Cove, and Sand Point, Alaska. 



The salting of cod was one of the earhest Massachusetts industries, as cod fish- 

 ing was entirely confined to the Atlantic Coast until 1863. In that year Captain 

 Matthew Turner caught the first fare of cod in Pacific waters off the Gulf of 

 Tartary. Since then the number of cod caught and salted on the Pacific Coast 

 has steadily increased, and at present the industry is of considerable importance. 

 The growing importance of the fresh- and frozen-fish business, due to the more 

 general use of refrigeration and cold storage, has caused a great decline in 

 the New England salted-fish industry. Some cod are now being canned. 



Methods of the New England Industry 



Although some cod caught at great distances from market are salted at sea, the 

 bulk of the catch is iced and brought to Boston or Portland; however, if there is 

 httle demand for fresh fish, they are sold to the large fish-salting firms in Gloucester 

 or Portland. Cod are caught chiefly with haddock in otter-trawl nets. Each day's 

 catch is partially cleaned, the entrails and gills removed, and the fish packed with 

 cracked ice in the hold. The amount of ice used depends upon the weather and 

 the probable duration of the trip. In winter little ice is used, but in summer large 

 quantities must be used on the longer trips. 



When the schooner arrives at the wharf, the fish are pitched into 2-bushel 

 baskets which are hauled up out of the hold and emptied on the dock. The fish 

 are then sorted into three sizes, large, medium, and small (snappers or scrod), 

 and pitched into racks hanging on large scales. In all cases the pitching is done 

 by means of short-tined pitchforks, called pews, which are similar to those used 

 in handling hay. After weighing, the fish are pewed into carts and hauled to nearby 

 sphtting tables from which they are dumped on the floor. The cod are next pewed 

 into racks near workmen called "headers" who break off the heads. At the other 

 end of the tables "splitters" split open the fish and cut out about two-thirds of the 

 backbone (that part from the head to the lower end of the abdominal cavity). 

 The backbones and heads are thrown into barrels and are collected for glue or 

 fertilizer manufacture. The fish are then tossed into large vats or tanks of sea water 

 which washes them free from blood and dirt. They are allowed to remain in the 

 vats from 5 minutes to 2 hours, depending upon the number and energy of the 

 boys who, with small dip nets or forks, scoop the fish out of the vats and into carts 

 and haul them to the salters. 



