REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 13 



organic matter, which is subject to decay. It has been demonstrated 

 that the precipitate does remove most of the organic matter, and a 

 plant has been installed in a fish-packing establishment at Gloucester, 

 Mass., for trial. If this recovered brine can be rendered suitable for 

 use again, the old brine used in preserving the fish brought to this 

 plant will, when recovered, supply most of the salt needed for future 

 use. At the present time, when the price of salt is about $16 per ton, 

 as compared with $3 three years ago, this is an item of importance. 

 The recovery process provides for the filtering off and drying of the 

 precipitate, a product rich in protein which may be converted into 

 fertilizer or fish meal. It is expected that this process, in conjunction 

 with improved methods of salting requiring high-grade salt, to wliich 

 reference has been made, will mark an advance in salting methods. 

 The development of a practicable recovery process should enal)le 

 the fish trade to use high-quality domestic salts in place of crude 

 foreign grades. 



As this work is still in the experimental stage, the results, including 

 complete description of details of apparatus, will not be disclosed 

 until the practicability of the method has been satisfactorily demon- 

 strated. 



URGENT NEED FOR EXHAUSTIVE INVESTIGATIONS OF PRESERV- 

 ING METHODS. 



In no branch of the fisheries is there greater need for exhaustive 

 study than in the methods of preservation of fishery products. The 

 methods in common practice are largely empirical, and in many cases 

 the basic principles governing the operation are not definitely known. 

 There is waste of tnne, labor, fuel, and materials, and the fisheries 

 remain undeveloped from the lack of knowledge of suitable methods. 

 To solve problems which in many cases are of vital importance to 

 the welfare of communities, well-equipped fishery-products labora- 

 tories and a well-trained corps of skilled teclmologists are required. 

 With adequate provision for these it would be possible to conduct 

 many important investigations under accurately controlled conditions 

 and render inestimable service in developing the fishery industries. 

 To appreciate the handicap under which the fisheries labor, one has 

 but to recall how amply agriculture is supplied with both Federal and 

 State experiment stations, with skilled investigators and agricul- 

 turists trained in colleges and universities provided for the pm^pose, 

 and how greatly it has benefited thereby, while the fisheries have 

 utterly lacked any such advantages, and their development has in 

 consequence been retarded. During the past year provision has been 

 made for one such laboratory for the Bureau, and one university has 

 established a college of fisheries in which the methods and problems 

 of the fisheries will receive' earful study and a corps of students will 

 be trained for the industry. 



FISHERY PRODUCTS LABORATORIES. 



Through an allotment of $125,000 from the fund for the national 

 security and defense, approved and authorized by the President on 

 July 2, 1918, the Bureau has been enabled to build a fishery-products 



35286°— 21 2 



