30 INTRODUCTORY 



the national food supply. The American public, 

 according to the Fish Trades Gazette of 

 March 31st, 1917, eat the canned " grayfish " 

 as eagerly as the dogfish eat the herring, and 

 the present demand in the United States is 

 ten times the available supply. It may not be 

 amiss to say that the " grayfish," when canned, 

 provides about the same amount of nutriment 

 as canned medium-grade salmon ; the flesh 

 is almost entirely free from uric acid, small 

 quantities of which are present in all meats 

 and poultry, and in most other fishes. The 

 energy value per lb. of British-caught dogfish 

 is 827 calories — a very high value, nearly as 

 high as that of the best parts of salmon, and 

 about the same as the average of beef, veal and 

 mutton. The British dogfish should be called 

 by an attractive name, and eaten ; the energy 

 value of its flesh being higher than that of the 

 fresh herring, except the Shetland " mattie," 

 but lower than that of the herring in a pre- 

 served state. 



Whales, gannets, and dogfish are not the 

 herring's only enemies, since full-grown cod 

 also are believed to feed chiefly on herring. 

 In most years 5,000,000 cod, ling and hake 

 are taken by Scottish fishermen, and allow- 

 ing the very small ration of two herrings a 

 day, these fish alone would consume over 

 3,500,000,000 herring in a year. The Nor- 

 wegian fishermen of Lofoden are said to capture 

 20,000,000 codfish annually, which on the 



