PACIFIC FISHERMAN 



107 



Oil and Fertilizer Review 



The year 1914 proved a fairly suc- 

 cessful one for the fish fertilizer and 

 oil industry of the Pacific Coast. While 

 the industry in Alaska almost held its 

 own, due largely to the starting up of 

 a large new plant, there was a consid- 

 erable decrease on Puget Sound, due 

 to this season being the year of the 

 smallest run of salmon during the 

 Quadrennial period. As the bi-yearly 

 run of Humpbacks will occur in this 

 region in 1915, the industry will then 

 probably handle almost double the 

 quantity of raw material that it did 

 this season. The plants in California 

 did a large business in the handling of 

 tuna and sardine offal, and it was 

 largely due to their efforts that the 

 total quantity of fish meal and fertil- 

 izer is not less than in 1913. 



Until recently all the plants merely 

 prepared fertilizer and oil, but this 

 year a considerable proportion of the 

 raw material, after the oil was ex- 

 tracted, was made up into animal feed. 

 The plants all sold this product to oth- 

 ers, who, after mixing it with other 

 ingredients, sold the prepared product 

 to poultry and cattle raisers. It is 

 said to make the best food of any for 

 these animals. 



The Fish Canners' By-Products Com- 

 pany built a large plant at Ward's 

 Cove, near Ketchikan, Alaska, during 

 the summer. Contracts were made 

 with a number of salmon canneries in 

 that district whereby their offal was 

 sold to this plant. The plant was com- 

 pleted at such a late date, however, 



that but little offal had been utilized 

 when the canneries shut down. The 

 company plans to operate on a large 

 scale during 1915, and hopes to be 

 able to manufacture a number of by- 

 products never before produced at a 

 Pacific Coast plant. 



The Monterey Packing Co., of Mon- 

 terey, Cal., during the summer fitted 

 up the gasoline schooner Newark as a 

 floating fish reduction plant, the pur- 

 pose being to handle the offal from the 

 company's sardine plant and non-edi- 

 ble species found in that region. The 

 products obtained comprised princi- 

 pally fish meal and oil. 



By-Products from Kelp. — The out- 

 look for this industry is a very bright 

 one. The war has almost entirely cut 

 off our supplies of potash from Ger- 

 many, and as Pacific kelp contains pot- 

 ash in larger quantities than is found 

 in kelp on other coasts, ultimately the 

 extraction of this and other by-prod- 

 ucts will prove an important industry. 

 Already there are several plants oper- 

 ating on the coast, while since the 

 first of the year two new plants have 

 been constructed on Puget Sound. 



MARKET REVIEW. 



Salmon Oil. — Pack last fall was rea- 

 sonably good and everything has prac- 

 tically been sold, prices ranging about 

 4c to 4V 2 c per pound. We have sold 

 out all but about three cars and are 

 holding at about 4c per pound. 



Herring Oil. — Pack of herring oil 

 has all been sold. 



Whale Oil. — A few cars remain on 

 this coast held at about the following 

 values: Xo. 1 sperm at 39 %c, No. 2 

 sperm at 34c, No. 3 sperm at 27c to 

 28V.C. Stock represented above is 

 about the only stock remaining unsold 

 on the coast. It is understood the war 

 has resulted in some depression in 

 this line in Europe, and many a poor 

 whale is likely to be shot under the 

 impression that he is a submarine. 



Fish Scrap.— At this season of the 

 year only small lots are available— 50 

 to 100 ton lots. The season of 1914 

 has been very good, prices holding 

 pretty well around $3 to $3.25 per unit 

 of ammonia, and about 10c for bone 

 phosphate of lime, delivered Califor- 

 nia points. We have been able to 

 obtain from $1 to $3 per ton over this 

 basis as poultry food. The demand 

 seems to be greater than the supply. 

 Samples and prices on fish scrap from 

 Japan indicate values slightly beyond 

 what our people will pay. 



Whale Meat and Blood, Whale Bone 

 Meal. — The companies operating had a 

 successful season and spot stocks, 

 with the exception of possibly 200 

 tons bone meal, have been cleaned up. 

 Values for this article run about as 

 per above for fish scrap. 



Blood and Tankage.— The companies 

 operating have had a successful sea- 

 son and most of this product is con- 

 tracted for in advance. Average price 

 for tankage is about $26 to $27, and 

 the blood $46, from companies who 

 prefer to sell this way. Others hold 



Fish 



Fertilizer 



Machinery 



or 



* 



WNKrJr^^B^^ W^^&v 





Have equipped largest plants in the world 

 We furnish various sizes for any capacity 



American 



Process 



Co. 



New York 

 68 Williams St. 



