24 



Part III. — Twenty-sixth Annual Report 



yet to experiment very far in this direction, yet I am convinced that this 

 matter deserves consideration and a fair trial by those engaged in the 

 trawling industry, 



Further, there is the very important question — What is the best time 

 to ice fish 1 



A. When rigor is completed ? 



B. Before rigor has set in ? 



C. After rigor has disappeared ? 



In the trawling industry the process of icing is so extensively practised 

 that the degree of freshness when put on the market, the suitability for 

 successful curing, and the palatable qualities of the fish in general, may 

 be said to depend on proper icing. Consequently, this is a subject which 

 deserves more consideration than it has hitherto received. But as this 

 part of the investigation is not yet complete, and as many enquiries are 

 in hand as to the conditions of icing observed in trawling, I will only 

 note a few more or less provisional conclusions. 



The observations which I have made during the past few months have 

 been chiefly on haddocks and whitings. 



Some were gutted and some left ungutted and immediately placed in ice, 

 under conditions A, B, 0. The fish were selected from line boat catches, 

 and three sets of experiments were made, as in following Table :— 



Some of each variety were placed in ice when rigor was completed 

 (condition A), others were iced immediately after death before rigor had 

 set in (condition B), and those of a third lot were iced at various periods 

 (1-10 hours) after rigor had passed off (condition C). 



Then some of each lot. A, B, C, were removed at intervening periods 

 of 5, 10, 15 days afterwards, examined and treated so as to ascertain their 

 qualities as regards keeping, curing, and palatability. 



In each respect those preserved under condition A were found to be 

 distinctly the best ; in the second degree came those preserved in 

 condition B ; while those preserved under condition C were poorest. 



In regard to those iced under condition C (1-10 hours after rigor had 

 passed off), it was found that in proportion to the number of hours 

 before icing was the rapidity of decomposition when removed from the ice. 



