284 American Fisheries Society 



When I say the damage by dogfish to bait, nets and 

 trawls is upwards of over $400,000 a year to the Massachu- 

 setts fishermen alone, I am well within bounds. 



So after all the question of utilizing these dogfish is 

 very important, particularly for the reason that dogfish live 

 almost exclusively upon the edible fish, the young cod and 

 other bottom fish, the lobster, the young of various surface- 

 feeding fishes, mackerel and other species. If we 

 assume that they eat only one or two pounds of fish a 

 day at a cent a pound, and there are at least 27,000.000 

 doing business all the time, the daily destruction of fish, 

 for which we pay 5 or 10 cents a pound, is very considerable, 

 certainly figuring up a damage of $5,000,000 or $10,000,000 

 a year at a very conservative estimate. We do not know 

 how much it really costs, but it is certainly going on. 



Mow numerous these sharks are is also shown from the 

 fact that there is a record of an otter-trawl taking over seven 

 tons of dogfish at a single haul. A net about 100 feet across 

 the mouth, dragged on the bottom, brought up at one haul 

 over seven tons of dogfish alone! 



Thus the problem of utilizing these dogfish becomes very 

 important. The United States Bureau of Fisheries has done 

 excellent work in urging the utilization of these fish as food. 

 They are prized in other sections of the world as food, but 

 we have not come to that in this country, although, as the 

 Bureau has pointed out, they are as good as many of the 

 fish that are already fashionable. 



I believe thoroughly that many tons of these dogfish 

 could be utilized by being dried, ground and used as pig 

 and poultry food, or as food for horses, as they are actually 

 used in Cape Breton. There they are caught and hung on 

 the fences to dry and then used as horse food ; about one dog- 

 fish a week is given to keep a horse in good condition. Any 

 residue could doubtless be used as fertilizer. Dogfish would 

 constitute a more truly economic source of nitrogenous ferti- 

 lizer than the menhaden; it is not used as staple food by 

 any other species of economic fishes, as are the menhaden. 



