August 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Fig. 3 - Menhaden being pumped from vessel to quarter box (a 

 large steel container designed to hold about 1,000 fish). 



even though fish meal production has tempo- 

 arily declined- -this decline need not continue. 

 Thus, I conclude that the ocean resources are 

 available and that world production of fish 

 meal can at least double, and maybe quadru- 

 ple, by the full use of these resources. 



Fig. 4 - Shows fish meal being sacked in a menhaden industrial 

 products plant. 



Let me talk for a moment about the product. There has been a big change in our use of 

 industrial fish. First we used fish meal for fertilizer; and then for poultry and stock feeds, 

 which continues to be the big user of industrial fish. In my view the demand for fish meal as 

 a stock feed supplement will continue, although the form and value of fish meal will continue 

 to improve. 



Another use for industrial fish products has become common in recent months. That is 

 the use of a more refined and often extracted meal for pet foods. The product is thus upgraded 

 and the value increased further. 



Now, another product has been produced from the industrial fishery. A fish protein con- 

 centrate (FPC) for human- food has been developed and submitted to the Food and Drug Admin- 

 istration (FDA). Secretary Udall, this past week, sent our findings to Food and Drug along 

 with a petition for the use of FPC as a food additive. The petition will be published this week 

 in the Federal Register and we hope for a favorable response from FDA within a short time. 



A distinguished committee of experts from the National Academy of Sciences has given 

 this product its wholehearted blessing, and another important use for fish--we hope-- will 

 result with yet a higher value. Without question even more and more valuable products are 

 possible in the future. 



Yet all is not good. Problems plague us on all sides; not insurmountable ones, yet prob- 

 lems which might well prevent us from accomplishing our goal of increased harvests and more 

 valuable products. 



The resource base for the U. S. industrial fishery is in a tenuous condition. The primary 

 catch depends mainly upon menhaden taken along the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Both of these resources are being fished very intensively and there is a grave question as to 

 whether they can sustain the current level of effort. 



