38 REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE. 
used for fertilizer; and (6) experiments with leather made from 
fish skins to determine fitness for manufacture into shoes and other 
articles. The Bureau has also given assistance in expediting ship- 
ments of raw hides from producing centers to tanners. 
A seine constructed for the Bureau, which has proved very success- 
ful for the capture of sharks up to 6 or 8 feet in length, is 600 yards 
long, 18 feet deep, with 4-inch bar mesh of 36 thread; top and bot- 
tom lines of one-half inch, 18-thread rope, fitted with seine corks 5 
inches in diameter placed 2 feet apart on the cork line, and 4-ounce 
trap leads with the same interspace on lead line, the entire net being 
tarred. With this type of apparatus, from 50 to 200 sharks have been 
taken in a single day’s fishing, and during the brief period in which 
two of these nets have been operated, approximately 2,000 sharks 
ranging in length from 34 to 15 feet have been taken. For the pur- 
pose of taking the larger sharks a heavier net of larger mesh is re- 
quired. One now under construction which the Bureau believes will 
prove satisfactory is 300 yards long, 12 feet deep, with 10-inch bar 
mesh of 60-thread tarred cotton twine hung on three-eighths inch 
12-thread rope, fitted with haul-seine corks 4 inches in diameter placed 
3 feet apart on cork line and 2-ounce round leads placed 6 feet apart 
on lead line. 
Through the cooperation of the Bureau of Standards the services 
of a technically trained tanner were obtained, and some tanning 
experiments were started at a large tannery with the company’s 
cooperation. The tanner remained in this work only a short time 
before entering the military service and the results accruing should 
be credited largely to the company. The experiments showed that 
shark skins could be tanned into upper leather for shoes by known 
methods of tanning and also that the shagreen could be removed 
from the skins very satisfactorily. To do this, the hides, after 
tanning and neutralizing, are first coated with paraffin and oil, 
tacked and dried. They are then smooth plated and shaved on the 
grain side to remove the coarest part of the denticles, and the grain 
is then gone over lightly on a rapidly revolving carborundum wheel. 
After this treatment the hides are ready for finishing. Some of the 
hides have been given a gun-metal finish suitable for shoes, others 
have been tanned for lining leather and as cordovan. The average 
tensile strength of two shark skins submitted to the Bureau was 
3,905 and 4,742 pounds per square inch. 
Owing to shortage of labor, transportation difficulties, and other 
drawbacks, progress in the development of this industry has been 
somewhat retarded. In fact, it has practically become necessary for 
the tanning companies to start fisheries of their own at various 
points along the coast to insure a supply of raw materials at the 
present time. With the increase in demand for shark meat and oil, 
the fishermen are showing increased interest in the fishery, and the 
outlook is regarded as promising. 
NEW ENGLAND VESSEL FISHERIES. 
The vessel fisheries centering at Boston and Gloucester, Mass., and 
Portland, Me., have been in a prosperous condition during the past | 
year. There was some decrease in the quantity of fishery products 
