REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. 173 

 PREPARATION OP FISHERY PRODUCTS. 



The Commission receives numerous inquiries as to the methods 

 employed in smoking, salting, canning, and otherwise preparing or 

 preserving fishery products for market. Especially in those sections 

 in which the fisheries are undergoing rapid development is there great 

 demand for information of this character. While the Commission has 

 from time to time published much bearing on this subject, the material 

 is scattered through a number of volumes and is not available for dis- 

 tribution. Even in the comprehensive quarto series of reports issued 

 by the Commission this matter was not especially considered. 



It is therefore proposed that, at as early a time as practicable, this 

 division make a special investigation of this subject to serve as the basis 

 for a comprehensive, practical report, which shall contain descriptions 

 of the various processes of preserving fish and other economic water 

 animals in the United States. To these may be properly added 

 accounts of the methods adopted in other countries. 



UTILIZATION OP WASTE PRODUCTS. 



A topic of no little consequence to the commercial fishermen is the 

 proper utilization of their catch and of the by-products resulting from 

 the cleaning, curing, or canning of the catch. In nearly every impor- 

 tant branch of the fisheries there is more or less waste of products 

 having value as food, fertilizer, oil, etc. One of the most conspicuous 

 cases in which a disregard for the value of refuse products results in a 

 great loss to the fishing interests is that of the salmon-canning industry 

 of the Pacific Coast. In this branch probably 20,000,000 pounds of 

 salmon heads, tails, trimmings, and viscera are annually thrown away, 

 which could, at a very slight cost, be converted into a high-class fer- 

 tilizer, and would probably yield considerable quantities of a valuable 

 oil. Numerous instances of this kind might be cited. In a previous 

 discussion of this subject 1 the following statements were made: 



The increased attention paid to the utilization of refuse products of fish in some 

 parts of the United States, especially New England, where not many years ago they 

 were generally thrown away, marks an advance in our industrial life. Every waste 

 product of fish and other aquatic animals resulting from their cleaning, curing, and 

 canning has a commercial value in a crude state or after further manipulation, but 

 in most regions no regard is paid to anything but the actual flesh, and many thou- 

 sands of dollars are thus aunually lost to a class that is least able to afford it. As 

 one instance of the loss our fishing interests are yearly incurring, mention may be 

 made of the economic value of the roe of fishes as an article of food. Practically, 

 the eggs of only two species of fishes — the sturgeon and mullet — are utilized in this 

 country, but there is hardly a fish whose roe is not suitable to be made into a valuable 

 caviar, which could meet with ready sale abroad as well as at home, and would be an 

 important addition to our fishery output, in that it would represent the expenditure 

 of little time and money and the sacrifice of no additional fish. In the utilization 

 and appreciation of our resources we can emulate the Chinese to decided advantage. 



'Remarks on the maintenance and improvement of the American fisheries. Bul- 

 letin United States Fish Coinunssion, 1893. 



