THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARKETS FOR NEGLECTED 



FISHES. 



Lewis Radcliffe, 

 United States Bureau of Fisheries. 



It is a common practice in the commercial fisheries to centralize 

 efforts on the development of means for catching and marketing 

 increasingly larger supplies of the more highly prized fishes and to 

 destroy or return to the water species of little or no market value. 

 Some of the results of this practice are that the supply of some of 

 the choice fishes has been greatly diminished, with the attendant 

 possibility of ultimate exhaustion; predatory species of lesser 

 value have been allowed to multiply and feed upon other more 

 valued forms; the housewife has acquired an acquaintance with 

 the merits of but a small number of species, and is encouraged to 

 ask for these only, while millions of pounds of wholesome food 

 fish are destroyed annually for lack of a market. 



One of the important problems of the commercial fisheries of 

 today is to create markets to absorb these millions of pounds of 

 waste fish; to develop methods of preservation which will render 

 them attractive to the consumer, and enable the fishermen to care 

 for the surplus catch in seasons of abundance for use in periods of 

 scarcity; to educate the public, not only to the merits of these 

 species as food, but as to the best ways of preparing each for the 

 table; and to provide for the utilization of the by-products. As 

 in many fields of commercial enterprise, the waste product of 

 yesterday has become the profit-producing product of today; so 

 in the fisheries, the fishes which we destroy today may yield the 

 profits of our tomorrow's work. 



Upon entering this field, we should realize at the start that 

 each species of fish, or each class, may call for special treatment; 

 that each may present a distinct problem, varying from the simple 

 to the very complex, and that in some cases tangible results will be 

 attained quickly, while in others a large expenditure of time and 

 effort will be required before the desired results are accomplished. 



In some cases, the fish may possess sufficient merit and strike 

 the popular fancy so quickly as to require only a little judicious 



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