6 THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



/ fish exceeds that of any other species taken in United States waters, 

 amounting to as much as 900,000,000 pounds annually. 



Other important fisheries are those for ciscoes or lake herring in the 

 Great Lakes region, annual yield exceeding 50,000,000 pounds; ale- 

 wives, or river herring, along the Atlantic seaboard, yield about 45,- 

 000,000 pounds; squeteagues, occurring along the Atlantic seaboard, 

 annual catch in excess of 40,000,000 pounds; shrimp, taken in the South 

 Atlantic and Gulf States, California, and Alaska, yield approximately 

 44,000,000 pounds; mullet, taken chiefly in the South Atlantic and 

 Gulf States, yield in excess of 40,000,000 pounds; crabs, taken princi- 

 pally in the Middle Atlantic States section, yield exceeding 30,000,000 

 pounds; and shad, native to the Atlantic coast and transplanted to the 

 Pacific coast, yield about 27,000,000 pounds. 



METHODS OF PRESERVATION. 



The perishable character of fish, the difficulties in marketing them 

 alive, the remoteness of production from points of consumption, and 

 the seasonal character of the catch are factors which have contributed 

 to the development of excellent methods of preservation by drying, 

 salting, smoking, canning, and refrigeration, and endless variations to 

 these fundamental methods. The ability effectively to preserve the 

 catch has been of the greatest importance in the upbuilding of the fish- 

 ing industry in the United States. 



FRESH FISH. 



The long distances between points of production and consumption 

 in the United States require that fresh fish receive some measure of 

 preservation. This is provided for by packing the fish in wooden con- 

 tainers (boxes or barrels of various sizes) packed in alternate layers of 

 ice. In addition, use is made of refrigeration cars. In this way large 

 quantities of fresh fish are shipped thousands of miles from points of 



capture. 



DRYING. 



Drying in the open air, the oldest form of fish curing, is but little used 

 in the United States, climatic conditions generally being unfavorable to 

 this method of preservation. Increasing interest is being shown in the 

 possibilities of preparing dehydrated or desiccated products by machinery. 

 These, however, have not reached the point of large commercial pro- 

 duction. 



SAI/TING FISH. 



The practice of preserving fish by means of salt is also of great antiquity 

 and represents one of the simplest and cheapest methods in use. The 

 basic methods of application are two packing the fish in dry salt, and 

 in salt brine (pickle). The so-called dried cod, hake, haddock, pollock, 

 cusk, and the like, which enter so largely into trade, domestic and foreign, 



