APPENDIX III APPENDIX III 
official noted that while there is an eager market for a 
number of "luxury" species, there is a limited market for 
those species which are most abundant. 
It appears that the next few years will provide oppor- 
tunities for using underutilized species of fish for low- 
cost, high-quality protein extenders for meat in a number of 
meat products. 
For example, tests have been carried out with the muscle 
of fish commonly taken from the waters of the northeastern 
Pacific to determine how well they perform as partial re- 
placers of the lean beef used as emulsifiers and nutritional 
protein sources in sausage products. Commercial food pro- 
cessors found that fish muscle is satisfactory for many 
products. Work underway suggests that drum-dried fish muscle 
makes a superior product to soy concentrate used by consumers 
to extend ground beef. Fish muscle has many uses, most of 
which have never been investigated. 
Marketing potential 
Annual per-capita consumption of groundfish products 
has increased at a much greater rate than consumption for all 
U.S. fishery products. The underlying cause of this is prob- 
ably the increase in prices of shellfish, halibut, flounder, 
and salmon, and the consumer shift to lower-priced ground- 
fish products in retail stores. Increased use of groundfish 
may also reflect the convenience of breaded sticks and 
portion products for use by the consumer. Over 97 percent of 
frozen fish blocks for making sticks and portion products are 
imported--averaging over 300 million pounds in 1971-74. 
In 1974 NMFS contacted a number of seafood purchasing 
agents, distributors, wholesalers, and brokers in 13 cities 
to analyze market conditions for a potential groundfish 
venture in Alaska. NMFS found that there is an interest in 
Alaska groundfish for future use depending on price, quality, 
and reliability of supply. Most respondents are looking for 
new supply sources, new species, better methods of processing, 
and better business methods. If domestically caught-and- 
produced Alaska-fishery products were marketed as high-quali- 
ty items at a fair price, they might account for a large 
volume of seafood in U.S. markets. 
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