REPORT OF THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 75 



KELP POTASH INDUSTRY. 

 At the time of our last Biennial Report the kelp beds of California 

 were being taxed to their utmo.st to furnish potash, the supply of 

 which was cut ofit" from Europe by the war. When this source of supply 

 was cut off potash manufactured from kelp sold readily for four times 

 the pre-war price. About 400,000 tons of kelp were being cut annually 

 and the government plant at Summerland and some of the larger com- 

 panies were making every effort to develop and obtain a market for the 

 by-products in order that the business might be carried on profitably 

 even if the price of potash should fall to what it was before the war. 

 "We ventured the opinion at that time that some of the companies would 

 be able to continue operations through the sale of the by-products which 

 they were developing. But the end of the war came sooner than 

 expected and was accompanied by a decided drop in the price of potash. 

 Soon after the signing of the armistice nearly all kelp harvesting ceased 

 for as yet a sufficient market had not been found for the by-products. 

 At the immense, three million dollar plant of the Hercules Powder Com- 

 pany on San Diego Bay, where the fermentation process was used to 

 break down the physical and chemical structure of the kelp, many by- 

 products were developed, several of them being chemicals which had 

 never before been produced in commercial Cjuantities. It was hoped 

 that use for these materials would be found in the indu.strial arts, but 

 so far no good market has been found for them. The only plant which 

 has continued to operate is the government experimental plant located at 

 Summer] and. Here they have continued to work on a small commercial 

 scale and researches have been continued to discover more economical 

 ways of extracting the potash and the different by-products. Here be- 

 sides the potash salts such by-products as kelp-oils, creosote, pitch, am- 

 monia, bleaching carbons, salt, and iodine have been obtained in com- 

 /nercial quantities. To quote from their last report: "The results 

 obtained to date indicate that it will be possible to establish on kelp 

 as a basic raw material a new American chemical industry of consider- 

 able size and of importance and usefulness to the nation." From the 

 work which has been done we now know that the kelp beds of California 

 are capable of yielding 500,000 tons of raw kelp annually without injury 

 to the present stand. It is possible that this great industry may soon 

 be partially revived, but at the present time it is at a standstill. 



Respectfully submitted. 



(Signed) N. B. Scofield, 

 In Charge, Department of Commercial Fisheries. 



