The population of the mid-west grew to great proportions, 

 and villages grew to cities at a time when ocean fisheries 

 had little access to the market. A taste was established 

 for small-sized freshwater fish of the lakes and rivers. 

 ... In response to insistent demand, prices rose dispro- 

 portionately to the diminishing supply so that the Great 

 Lakes and Mississippi River system experienced the greatest 

 rise in price of all the regions of the country, and is 

 the only region of the country to have a higher average 

 price for its fish in terms of purchasing power in the 

 1921-1940 period than in the pre-1908 period. The percentage 

 improvement in income in dollars of constant purchasing power 

 per fishermen exceeds that of any other region. 



Following World War II, with the development of improved methods 

 of fish preservation and transportation, the marine fisheries began 

 to compete more directly with river fisheries (Carlander, 1954: 69). 

 At the same time, there appeared to be a change in taste and popu- 

 larity of various fishery products. This was particularly apparent 

 in the Jewish community, as Carlander (1954: 68) noted: 



The Jewish people have always been the principal pur- 

 chasers of carp shipped to the eastern markets. "Gefillte" 

 fish, prepared from carp is a particular delicacy but its 

 preparation takes quite a bit of time which modern house- 

 wives do not care to spend. 



The inconvenience to modern Jewish housewives of preparing Ge- 

 fillte led to the manufacture of a Gefillte fish product by fish food 

 companies on the east coast, with carp being the major constituent. 

 However, Starrett (unpublished) found that by 1960 the use of carp even 

 in manufactured Gefillte was diminishing as shown in the following 

 correspondence received by Dr. Starrett from Rokeach and Sons, Inc., a 

 fish food processor in New Jersey: 



In reply to your letter of March 25, 1960, we would 

 like to state that a considerable proportion of our Gefillte 

 fish pack is now made without carp. 



90 



