162 CALli'UKXlA FlSll AND GAME 



]\Ioiiterey to the Orej^on line is beiiifr furnished for the ^^ilolesale 

 fisli dealers' organization. — .Y. B. ScnfirhJ, March 5, 1934. 



FRESH FISH MARKETING ACTIVITIES 



The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries is cooperating with over 

 five thousand fresh fish dealers in creatinp: a greater consumer accept- 

 ance and demand for fresh food fish. The principal bars to Avider 

 distribution of fishery products are the price, or rather the lack of 

 public knowledge as to the factors that influence prices, and the lack 

 of public knowledge of proper methods of preparation of fresh fish for 

 human consumption. 



The price question is well illustrated at any gathering where a 

 representative of the fish industry talks on the marketing of its 

 products. For w^henever the question of price comes up, the inevitable 

 (juestion is asked : ' ' Why does fish cost as much and sometimes more 

 than meats? The ocean teems with them, they cost nothing to feed 

 and require no care ; while live stock, on which we depend for our 

 meat supply, have to be fed, housed and cared for almost as carefully 

 as we care for ourselves. This expense, of course, has to be absorbed 

 by the ultimate buyer of the meat. With fish there are no such costs 

 to be considered." 



While it is true that fish are self-sufficient and do not depend upon 

 man's efforts to feed or raise them, the process of getting them from 

 their native element to our table is a good deal more complicated than 

 is the case with live stock. Ask any angler sport fisherman who has 

 spent a day in a mountain stream endeavoring to catch trout and he 

 will tell you that though the fish are there, it is not always so easy to 

 catch them. 



Men who fish coiTimoreially encounter the same diffieidty in secur- 

 ing catches of fish that the amateur angler does. They often go out for 

 days at a time and return with nothing. Naturally their expenses for 

 gear, boats and living go on just the same. These expenses are not 

 small, particularly when we realize that the average fisherman has 

 invested in his gear and boat between $1,000 and $10,000, with larger 

 fishing gear costing as high as $125,000. The fish he catches must 

 help pay for this gear and also pay his wages. 



Fish are highly perishable unless properly refrigerated. They 

 must be handled by experienced and skilled men and if sent from 

 distant points must be cleaned, boxed, iced and shipped by fast trans- 

 portation at high rates. All of these charges must be added to the 

 cost of the fish before the wdiolesaler or retailer can take his profit. 



Also while the average person would not expect to get fresh 

 peaches in December unless prepared to pay a premium for them, 

 the same individual will buy fish not available in local waters, fish 

 that are in all likelihood expressed from some distant point, and 

 become indignant at the price asked. This indignation will find its 

 expression in the conclusion that all fish ai'e liigh-iu'iced with the result 

 that fish is passed by in future purchasing of food products. 



Over fifty different species of excellent food fish are produced from 

 the waters of the State. The average housewife buying fish only knows 



