432 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



tional income to the fishermen. The development of this trade is 

 retarded by the fact that few dealers or preparators of fishery products 

 have opportunities of becoming acfpiainted with the foreign markets, 

 the kind of articles that may be disposed of, and the methods of prepa- 

 ration suited to the foreign demands. The building up of trade in those 

 countries is accompanied with many difficulties. Preparators and pro- 

 ducers must cater to the foreign markets with energy equal to that 

 exercised in the domestic trade, and should possess accurate knowledge 

 of the present condition and requirements of the trade with those 

 countries. 



At one time a very large portion of the exports of this country con- 

 sisted of dried codfish. In 1774 the value of exported cod was upward 

 of $1,000,000, representing one-sixth of the whole export trade of the 

 United States, for the aggregate value of the exports was then but 

 $6,165,413. In 1804 the value of the exports of the United States was 

 $41,467,477, of which cod represented $2,400,000, the proportion being 

 as 17.2 to 1. In 1857, however, the total domestic exports of the United 

 States were valued at $338,985,065, of which the value of cod was only 

 $570,348, the proportion being as 594 to 1. The decrease in the value 

 of exported codfish since 1804 was $1,829,652, while the increase in the 

 value of the other exports was $297,517,588. 



Since 1857 considerable foreign trade has been developed in pickled 

 and canned fish and miscellaneous fishery products ; so that, while in 

 1894 the exports of cod were but $704,652, the aggregate value of the 

 fishery exports was $4,258,306, out of a total export trade of $869,204,937, 

 the proportion being as 1 to 204. 



The principal fishery exports at the present time are canned salmon, 

 dried cod, fresh and canned oysters, whalebone, spermaceti, smoked 

 and pickled herring, pickled mackerel, and whale and fish oils. 



The total value of domestic fishery products exported from 1790 to 

 1894, inclusive, approximates $331,000,000, of which $115,956,126 repre- 

 sents the exports during the last twenty years. 



The possibilities for increasing our exports are apparent from an 

 examination of the following summary compiled from the "British 

 Statistical Abstract for the Principal and Other Foreign Countries," 

 and from other trade reports, showing the total imports of fishery 

 products into several of the principal foreign countries and the imports 

 from the United States. While the value of this summary is necessarily 

 limited by the lack of returns for many countries, especially for those 

 in South America and the West Indies, and by the limited classification 

 in most of the countries here named, yet it clearly indicates the small 

 share that this country has in supplying the foreign fishery markets. 



