OUR VANISHING FOOD FISH 



545 



THE FRESH-FISH FLEET AT T WHARF, BOSTON. 



Larger quantities of fresh sea fish are landed at Boston than at any other port in the United States. 

 The principal species are cod, cusk, haddock, hake, pollock, halibut, swordfish, and mackerel, together 

 with lobsters, oysters, and clams. A day's receipts of fresh fish from the grounds off the New 

 England coast have sometimes exceeded 2,000,000 pornds. 



plete monopoly of the market. They 

 purchase herring for less than others, 

 and indeed so completely do they con- 

 trol the market, that the fishermen re- 

 fuse to sell to individual consumers or 

 to boats sent out by the packing houses 

 who wish to purchase and pack for 

 food purposes. Representatives of a 

 fish-packing house were refused fish 

 although they offered 50 cents more per 

 thousand than the fertilizer boats. 

 Their offer was declined owing to the 

 fact that the fertilizer boats are always 

 willing purchasers at their fixed prices, 

 regardless of the condition of the mar- 

 ket. The boats representing the fish 

 packers, however, purchase only a cer- 

 tain quantity and desire no more. The 

 result is, that the fisherman prefers to 

 deal with the steady customer to whom 

 he can at all times deliver his catch 

 rather than with one whose purchases 

 are limited. 



More than 5,000,000 food fish caught 

 in 1912 in the nets at the head of the 

 Chesapeake Bay went into the ma- 

 chines of the fertilizer factories of Vir- 

 ginia. Three pound nets alone deliv- 

 ered 147,000 fish to the fertilizer boats 

 in a single day. 



The result of the use of herring for 

 fertilizer has been a studious effort to 

 increase the catch of that fish. With a 

 market available under conditions which 

 allow of no surplus or waste, the fish- 

 erman is able to regulate his day's earn- 

 ings by the size of his catch. The 

 profits are measured only by the quan- 

 tity of apparatus the fisherman is 

 equipped to operate and the number of 

 fish taken. 



What has been the effect? Intense 

 fishing, the multiplication and extension 

 of nets and traps of varied character, 

 all for the purpose of increasing the 

 catch regardless of the consequences. 



