6 FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
their application to effect improvement in methods in practice, in the 
quality of the product, and in economy of operation. Although but 
recently inaugurated, these investigations give promise of yielding 
valuable results to the industry and clarifying our understanding of 
the processes, thereby enabling us to proceed more intelligently. 
One of the major finctions of the Syision is the taking of inven- 
tories of the fisheries. The importance of such work as a guide to 
the States in the enactment of proper legislation governing the 
protection of the fisheries, to mention only one of the needs for such 
work, should be self-evident. During the year the following sta- 
tistical canvasses were made: Coastal fisheries of New York and 
New Jersey, exclusive of shellfish for 1917; the fisheries on Five- 
Fathom Bank, N. J., for 1916 and 1917; the shad fishery of the 
Hudson River for the years 1917 and 1918; the fisheries of Lake 
Pepin and Lake Keokuk for 1917; and the fisheries of the Great 
Lakes, Lake of the Woods, and Rainy Lake for 1917. In addition, 
the detailed statistics of the vessel fisheries centering at Boston and 
Gloucester, Mass., Portland, Me., and Seattle, Wash., have been col- 
lected and the information published in the form of monthly and 
annual bulletins for the use of the trade. These data, together with 
the results of the canvass of the Great Lakes fisheries, appear in the 
present report. The Bureau is striving to make its statistical can- 
vasses with sufficient frequency to cover the major geographical 
divisions of the fisheries once in a five-year period. To do this 
properly will require a somewhat larger force of statistical agents. 
INCREASING CONSUMPTION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS. 
The unusual demands on our food resources in 1918 afforded 
exceptional opportunities for educating the public to the value of 
fish and fishery products with which it was little acquainted. The 
Bureau endeavored to meet this situation and employed assistants 
experienced in the fisheries to assist in the development of markets 
and the education of the public to the merits of fish as food. It was 
instrumental in introducing approximately a half million pounds of 
Gulf fish to the markets of Nashville, Tenn., Louisville, Ky., and 
Indianapolis, Ind. These shipments, packed under the supervision 
of Government agents by the most approved methods to insure 
arrival in the best of condition, were made in car lots by the Gulf 
producers. This has resulted in enlarging the markets for fish from 
this region and acquainting many people with the merits of species 
common to the region. To effect relief for unsatisfactory shipping 
conditions, similar service was inaugurated between Chincoteague, 
Va., and the markets of Philadelphia and New York, and a number 
of shipments were made under supervision of Government agents. 
Assistance was rendered in introducing canned river-herring prod- 
ucts (fish, roe, and buckroe), sea herring, and gadoid buckroe to the 
markets of Atlanta, Ga., Birmingham and Montgomery, Ala., and 
Knoxville, Nashville, and Chattanooga, Tenn.; this resulted in bring- 
ing nearly 14,000 cases of these products, valued at over $54,000, to 
these markets. 
Whaling companies were encouraged to save and market whale 
meat, and a placard and an economic circular were issued to aid in 
creating a demand for the product and in educating the housewife 
