AN IMPROVED AND PRACTICAL METHOD OF PACKING FISH 
FOR TRANSPORTATION. 
ed 
By A. SOLLING, 
Commissioner to the Danish Government Fisheries Department, London, England. 
a 
It was about forty years ago that ice was with good result first used on 
board English fishing ships for packing fish. Before that time fishing ships 
made only short voyages, to insure the fish reaching market in a good condition. 
But it was necessary to bring in the best and firmest fish only, those that could 
be kept fresh the longest time, such as soles, turbot, brill, and halibut, which 
fish retain the name of “prime fish.” Other kinds of fish, such as plaice, cod, 
and haddock, could not be brought in, as they would not keep, and so had 
to be thrown overboard as useless. 
In the eighties, when steam trawlers were introduced for fishing purposes, 
the fishermen went away for ten to fourteen days, sometimes three weeks, for 
their catch, and it was then necessary to make provision on board for a large 
quantity of ice, so that the catch might reach port in good condition. In spite 
of this precaution, however, a large quantity of fish caught at the commence- 
ment of the voyage was, and is still, landed in a very poor and stale condition, 
especially during the heat of the summer. People seem to enjoy iced fish, even 
though it has lost its flavor, believing that there is no possibility of procuring 
it otherwise. But when they have once tasted good fresh fish, cooked imme- 
diately after being caught and killed, they lose their taste for iced fish at once. 
It was after seeing the poor treatment to which fish is exposed in England, 
from the moment it is caught—carried in ice in the trawler’s hold, discharged 
and repacked, and finally laid out on the fishmonger’s marble slab, occasionally 
being sprinkled with lukewarm water to make it shine—that I was led to experi- 
ment for a means of packing fish for transportation and keeping it in a better 
and sounder condition. 
Many different experiments have been made in an effort to find the best 
and most practical means of keeping fish fresh and sound for a lengthened period, 
but all these methods, whether with or without the use of chemicals, have been 
found wanting in efficiency, the fish losing its fine appearance, and more especially 
its flavor. 
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