190 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The followiug table shows the aggregate statistics for the Uuited 

 States for a period of five years : 



Table shoivivg statisiics of the manufacture of menhaden oil and guano in the United States 

 in the years 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, and 1877. 



[Compiled from the Annual Eeports of the United States Menhaden Oil and Guano Association.] 



* The Oil, Paint, and Drug Eeporter for January 9, 1677, gives this as 1,708,166. 



A comparison of the yield of the whale and other fisheries. 



259. In 1875, the total amount of sperm oil from the American whale 

 fisheries was 1,000,951 gallons; of other whale oil, 1,414,180 gallons; in 

 all, 2,50.1,137 gallons. The amount of menhaden oil for the same year 

 was 2,018,487 gallons, an excess of 170,350 gallons. In 1874, tlie amount 

 of menhaden oil was 3,372,837 gallons, exceeding that of whale oil by 

 1,115.597 gallons. 



In 1870, 2,990,000 gallons of menhaden oil were made, and in 1877, 

 2,420,000, For the year ending June 30, 1877, the production of whale 

 oil was 2,140,047 gallons, and for the year 1877, 2,151,705 gallons. 



In the " Oil, Paint, and Drug Eeporter" for January 14, 1874 (page 4), 

 the following statement is made : 



" It is asserted that while the amount of oil produced is equal to that 

 derived from the whale fisheries in this country, the menhaden interest 

 is ahead of the whale, for though the menhaden oil sells at a less price 

 per gallon, for every barrel of oil made there is three-quarters of a ton 

 of scrap, which readily commands $15 per ton at the factory." 



This is not true. In 1874, for instance, the value of the sperm oil 

 alone was $1,250,987 ; that of other oils from the whale fishery, $775,919. 

 Total value of oils from the whales, $2,020,900; the value of the total 

 products of the whale fishery, $2,291,890. 



By way of further comparison, the cod and seal-oil fishery of New- 

 foundland and Labrador may be instanced. The latest figures at hand 

 show the product of the seahoil fishery to be 1,500,000 gallons, and of 

 the cod-oil fishery 900,000. 



