2 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



auy other fish, whea it can be procured. The Dominiou mackerel fleet 

 buy it iu quantity, and its value has been thought an important element 

 in framing treaties between our government and that of Great Britain. 

 As a food resource it is found to have great possibilities. Many hun- 

 dreds of barrels are sold, salted, in the "West Indies, while thousands 

 of barrels are salted down every year for domestic use by families 

 living near the shore. In many sections the fresh fish are sold in the 

 market. Within five years has sprung up an important new industry, 

 which consists in packing these fish in oil, after the manner of sardines, 

 for home and foreign consumption. The discovery made by Mr. Good- 

 ale, that from these fish may be extracted, for the cost of carefully boil- 

 ing them, a substance possessing all the properties of Liebig's " extract 

 of beef," opens up a vast field for future development. As a food for 

 domestic animals, iu the shape of " fish meal," there seems also to be a 

 broad opening. As a source of oil the menhaden is more important than 

 auy other marine animal : its annual yield usually exceeds that of 

 the whale (from American fisheries) by about 200,000 gallons, in 1874 

 not falling far short of the aggregate of all the whale, seal, and cod 

 oil made in America. The refuse of the oil-factories supplies a material 

 of much value for manures : as a base for nitrogen it enters largely into 

 the composition of most of the manufactured fertilizers. The amount 

 of " ammonia " derived from this source in 1875 was estimated to be 

 equivalent to that contained in 60,000,000 pounds of guano from Peru, 

 the gold value of which would not be far from $1,920,000. In 187G the 

 yield of the menhaden fishery was more than twice that of any other 

 carried on by the fishermen of the United States. In the value of its 

 l^roducts it was surpassed only by the cod and mackerel fisheries.* 

 Imperfect information regarding the species. 

 3. At the time of beginning the investigation, the results of which 

 are partially detailed in this memoir, comparatively little was known 

 about the menhaden. The species had been described or referred 

 to iu most of the books on the ichthyology of North America, and iu 



* The following table of estimates shows in a general way the relative values of the 

 fisheries in 1876 ; 



Fisheries. 



Menhaden fishery 



Cod fishery 



Mackerel iishery 



risheries of the great lakes (1872) . 

 Salmon fishery of Columbia River. 



Halibut fishery 



Shad fishery (estimate) 



Scup fishery 



Bluefish fishery 



Swordfish fishery 



Bonito fishery 



Squcteaguo fishery 



Flounders fishery 



Herri ui; fishery (partly in British waters) 



Whale fishery 



Oyster fishery 



Yield in 

 pounds. 



462, 



215, 



49, 



32, 



30, 



22, 



20, 



7, 



7, 



1, 



2, 



1, 



1, 



000, coo 



000, 000 

 000, 000 

 250, 000 

 000, 000 

 000, (lOO 

 000, 000 

 7G0, 000 

 008, 000 

 500, 000 

 200, 000 

 800, 000 

 827, 000 



27, 933, 500 



Value. 



$1, 657, 796 

 4, 825, 540 

 2, 375, 262 

 1,600,000 

 2, 500, 000 



1, 546, 240 

 1,0(10,000 



504, 400 

 424, 000 

 165, 000 

 143, 000 

 138, 200 

 109, 620 



507, 977 



2, 850, 000 

 25, 000, 000 



