October 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



UNITED STATES 



industrial Fishery Products 



MIDYEAR PRODUCTION OF FISH MEAL, 

 OIL, AND SOLUBLES DECLINES 

 FROM 1965 FIGURES 



During July 1966, 29.2 million pounds of 

 marine animal oils and 32,469 tons of fish 

 meal were produced in the United States, the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries reports. 

 Compared with July 196 5, this was a decrease 

 of about 12.4 million pounds of marine ani- 

 mal oils and 17,615 tons of fish meal and 

 scrap. Fish solubles production amounted to 

 13,438 tons--a decrease of 5,181 tons com- 

 pared with July 1965. 



— EVENTS AND TRENDS 



Product 



July 



Jan. -July 



Total 

 1965 



1/1966 1965 



_l_/196fi 1965 



Fish Meal and Scrap: 



fs 





1,030 

 2,799 

 24,124 

 2.907 

 1.609 



1,966 

 4,297 

 39.286 

 2,790 

 1.745 



6,354 



4.877 



70.543 



17.539 



5.927 



7,411 



6,731 



105.930 



13.815 



11.075 



10.696 

 12,932 

 175,959 

 25.399 

 17.360 



Groundfish 



Herring 



Menhuden 2/ 



Tuna and m"ackerel . . 

 Unclassified 



Totals/ 



32.469 



50,084 



105,240 



144,962 



242,346 



Fish Solubles: 



11.040 

 2,398 



16.254 

 2,365 



33,639 

 13.232 



42.013 

 12.130 



73,181 

 21,658 



Menhaden 2/ 



Unclassified 



Total 



13.438 



18.619 



46.871 



54.143 



94_,839 



Oil. bodv: 

 Groundfish 



. . . , - -fl 



000 Pounds). . . . . .1 



225 



2.354 



25,024 



527 



1.027 



603 



4.017 



35,930 



582 



435 



1.060 



3.332 



80.434 



2.537 



2,594 



1.689 



5.052 



107.960 



2,164 



1,929 



2.441 



8.543 



175.202 



4.793 



4,521 



Menhaden 2/ 



Tuna and mackerel . . 

 Unclassified (inc. 





Total oQ 



29,157 



41.567 



89,957 



118,794 



195.500 



1 /Preliminary data. 



2/Includes a small quantity of other species. 



3^/Does not include a small quantity of shellfish and marine 



animal meal and scrap because production data are not 



available monthly. 



PRODUCTIDN-i' BY AREAS, AUGUST 1966 



Area 



Meal 



Oil 



Solubles 



Auaust 1966: 



Short 

 Tons 



23,642 

 3,075 



1,000 

 Lbs. 



19,400 

 743 



Short 

 Tons 



9,943 

 1,775 



East & Gulf Coasts . . . 

 West Coast!./ 



Total 



26,717 



20, 143 



11,718 



Jan. -Aug. 1966 totol . . 



131,957 



110,100 



58,589 



Jan. -Aug. 1965 total . . 



194,873 



156,574 



72,133 



lyDoes not include crab meal, shrimp meal, and liver oils. 

 2yincludes American Samoa and Puerto Rico. 



Can Shipments Rise Slightly 



A total of 1,485,577 base 

 boxes of steel and alumi- 

 num was consumed to make 

 cans s hippe d to fish and 

 shellfish canning plants in 

 January- June 1966. This 

 compares with 1,447,386 

 base boxes used during same period in 1965. 



Note: Statistics cover all commercial and captive plants known 

 to be producing metal cans. A "base box" is an area of 31, 360 

 square inches, equivalent to 112 sheets 14" x 20" size. Ton- 

 nage figures for steel (tinplate) cans are derived by use of the 

 factor 23.7 base boxes per short ton of steel. 



Source: U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. 



aoDaaDnnD 



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Wholesale Prices and Indexes for 

 Edible Fish and Shellfish, August 1966 



The August 1966 wholesale price index for 

 edible fishery products (fresh, frozen, and 

 canned) was down 0.2 percent from July. Au- 

 gust prices were somewhat mixed. At 129.5 

 percent of the 1957-59 average, the overall 

 index was 13.3 percent higher than August 

 1965--and, with veryfew exceptions, prices 

 were higher for nearly all items. 



The subgroup index for drawn, dressed, or 

 whole finfish dropped 2.8 percent from July-- 

 caused largely by a sharp drop in prices at 

 Boston for ex-vessel large haddock (down 23.5 

 percent). Also, prices were slightly lower at 

 New York City for fresh and frozen western 

 dressed halibut and fresh salmon- -but higher 

 for Great Lakes fresh fish. Compared with 

 August 1965, prices were sharply lower for 

 haddock (down 25.6 percent) because of better 

 supplies, and slightly lower for halibut (down 

 5.0 percent). As a result, the subgroup index 

 this August was down 1.2 percent from 1965. 

 But August 1966 prices were substantially high- 

 er for yellow pike (up 27.1 percent) and white- 

 fish (up 15.7 percent). 



The August 1966 subgroup index for fresh 

 processed fish and shellfish rose 0.6 percent 

 from July. Prices were higher for fresh had- 

 dock fillets (up 2.3 percent) at Boston and 

 South Atlantic fresh shrimp (up 0.9 percent) 

 at New York City. Prices remained unchanged 



