Fish Culturists' Association. 33 



at Eastport has been of great moment, by enabling those engaged in the 

 business to anticipate the. occurrence of a period of hot or cold weather 

 in time to take measures to protect themselves from loss. The applica- 

 tion of the signal telegraph in the service of the fisheries in the United 

 States is comparatively recent, and promises to be of great benefit by 

 communicating information of the occurrence of schools of fish along 

 the coast, and of their movements, to those interested in their capture. 



Another application of the signal telegraph is made by the dealers in 

 fish both on the lakes and the sea-board, who regulate their orders and 

 shipments of fresh fish by the knowledge thus obtained of impending 

 atmospheric conditions. 



The American salmon trade continues to increase, and the number of 

 establishments engaged in canning and preparing them for market on 

 the Columbia River and in Puget Sound becomes larger every year. It 

 would almost seem that the vast numbers taken for this purpose must 

 soon bring about their extermination, but as yet no perceptible decrease 

 is reported. Numbers of these fish are brought fresh to the East in 

 refrigerator cars to supply the market earlier than the period during 

 which the eastern salmon can be taken. 



In view of the great increase of the halibut fisheries oflT the coast of 

 the United States, the hardy fishermen of Cape Ann, who more espe- 

 cially carr}' on this branch of industr}', are obliged to resort to distant 

 seas to obtain a suppl}- ; and even Greenland is not too far for their 

 eflTorts. The coast of Iceland, too, has also been visited by a Gloucester 

 vessel for this purpose ; but, although the halibut were abundant, the 

 storm}' nature of the region and other impediments rendered it impracti- 

 cable to continue the effort. 



A rapidly increasing trade is that connected with the menhaden, 

 mossbunker, or pogy, {Brevoortia menhaden^) a large species of the 

 herring family valuable for the oil and scrap — the refuse after extracting 

 the oil from the boiled fish, which is used in direct applications to the 

 land, or in the manufacture of fertilizers. Some idea of the magnitude 

 of the interest may be learned from the fact that in 1873 sixty-two 

 factories were in operation on the coast of New York and of New England, 

 requiring the use of 383 sailing vessels and 20 steamers, the factories 

 and vessels emplo3'ing 2,306 men, with an investment of $2,388,000. 

 The total catch of fish amounted to 1,193,100 barrels (250 fish to the 

 barrel,) yielding 2,214,800 gallons of oil, and 36,289 tons of guano. 

 The oil is used principally in dressing leather, and to some extent in 

 rope-making and for painting, but not as yet for lubricating. 



Another increasing fisher}^ in the United States is that relating to the 

 sturgeon, which, though abundant, has been but little utilized, thousands 

 3 



