THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



Our sister Republic, the United States of Brazil, has an abundant 

 supply of edible fish in her coastal and interior waters and realizes the 

 importance of more fully developing this important food resource for 

 the use of her people. Brazilians may therefore be interested in a brief 

 review of the character and importance of the fisheries of the United 

 States of America as a. source of food and products valued in the arts 

 and industries, and in the relationship of the United States Bureau of 

 Fisheries to this industry. Her students may be interested in the educa- 

 tional opportunities afforded by our fishery colleges and her business 

 men in the possibilities of obtaining supplies, from fish nets to fishery 

 products, readily procurable in the United States of America. 



At the very beginning of our history the fisheries were of the greatest 

 importance, some of the early settlements, at times, being wholly de- 

 pendent for continued existence upon fish as the only available food 

 supply. The fisheries have continued to hold high rank in our industrial 

 growth, as an important source of food and for the training of seamen 

 for war or peace time pursuits. At present there are about 200,000 

 persons actively engaged in the fisheries of the United States and Alaska, 

 using approximately 6,500 vessels of 5 tons net or over, and 75,000 

 small boats for the capture and transporting of fishery products, employ- 

 ing nets and other fishing apparatus with a value aggregating $15,000,000. 

 The capital invested approximates $170,000,000, and the annual yield of 

 fishery products amounts to approximately 2,500,000,000 pounds, with 

 a value of $85,000,000 to the fishermen, and a much greater value as~ 

 prepared for the market. Of the total catch, about 68 per cent consists 

 of marine products, 20 per cent of anadromous species, and 12 per cent 

 of fresh-water forms. The Atlantic seaboard supplies about 64 per cent 

 of the catch, the Pacific coast States, Alaska, and the interior United 

 States waters about 12 per cent each. 



FISHING GROUNDS. 



The most important fishing areas are the relatively shoal water banks 

 lying off the eastern coast of North America from Newfoundland to 

 Massachusetts. These banks are about 70,000 square miles in area, and 



1117422 -2 



