154 American Fisheries Society 



ing of fish can work no miracle. Fish in the retail store 

 cannot be expected to be strictly fresh if it is second or 

 third grade when shipped by the wholesaler. Salted fish 

 which was in poor condition when split, salted and boxed 

 will not be "Prime Georges" or "Selected Bank" when it 

 reaches the table for the Friday fish dinner, even though 

 plentifully treated with boracic acid and every bone 

 pulled. 



FISH INSPECTION THE SOLUTION 



Inspection which will trace the fish from the time of 

 landing on the wharf until it is wrapped up by the market 

 man is the solution of these "poor fish" troubles. Fish 

 inspection that actually inspects, as is the case with beef 

 and canned goods, will mean that the public will have 

 the opportunity of buying only good fish. With this ac- 

 complished, then, and only then, may we look for the 

 per capita consumption of fish here and in Canada to 

 increase and not before. Not until the consumer can 

 secure better fish will fish food consumption increase. 



WHAT MASSACHUSETTS IS DOING 



The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the largest fresh 

 and salt-fish producing state in the country, after an in- 

 vestigation of her fisheries business, decided that some- 

 thing must be done if the fresh and frozen-fish industries 

 were to endure; and in 1919 passed a Fish Inspection Law 

 designed to secure better fish to the public and thus in- 

 crease fish consumption, and to deal severely with those 

 who refuse to live up to the "good fish" requirements of 

 the law. 



This new law, which combines health, economic, and 

 anti-profiteering features, has to do basically with fur- 

 nishing the public with the opportunity of buying only 

 good fish and with knowing exactly what they are buy- 

 ing, and on this is based the assumption that, with this 



