Bartlett—Fish Waste 25 



Another product of the fish is lost and wasted which could be 

 utilized to great profit, as I have reason to believe. I refer to the 

 universal practice of throwing into the river all of the waste 

 resulting from dressing and preparing fish for market. In dressing 

 buffalo, carp, catfish and the like, the scales, skin and head with 

 collar bones and entrails are thrown into a tub and later dumped 

 into the river, and this waste matter constitutes an important 

 percentage of the fish. 



One instance that I recall will serve to illustrate the amount of 

 such matter that is thrown into the river, its value lost and the 

 waters polluted at the same time. Some years ago in early spring, 

 when the ice started to move in the Illinois River, fish seeking 

 security on the lee side of an island moved into Moscow Bay, 

 situated below Havana. The bay was at a good stage and fed 

 by springs in part, thus affording earlier clear water than the river 

 generally. A lot of farmers living near discovered the run of 

 fish and joined seines with the fishermen, for farmers then, as 

 now, carried seines as a part of their equipment. They sur- 

 rounded the bunch of fish and the haul netted 300,000 pounds. 

 Seine brails were brought ashore, the seine well staked and fish 

 were taken out with dip nets and hauled away as they were wanted. 

 The weather was cold and it took a couple of weeks to complete 

 the job. Then the fish, or most of them, were cleaned and shipped. 

 All the offal from the catch followed the usual route, and the greater 

 part of all such refuse after dressing fish is still being dumped into 

 the rivers. All the waste of the fish that is thus thrown away 

 could be utilized, the fat be rendered into oil and the other parts 

 converted into fish meal and used as food for hogs or fowls. Not 

 only the refuse can be so utilized, but the dead fish should also be 

 rendered. 



In the use of a seine, large or small, scarcely a haul is made 

 that does not bring ashore immense numbers of hickory shad. 

 They are considered worthless and are simply shaken out of the 

 seines and left on the shores to decay, a menace to health and 

 comfort, if nothing more, but if they could be saved they would 

 give a fair return in oil and fish meal. This I have seen dem- 

 onstrated years ago, but the experiment failed to pay because at 

 that time the Illinois laws prevented the use of the seine. Now 



