26 BULLETIN 908, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



lots of fish which contained feed when taken from the water showed, 

 on reaching the canneries, an actual loss of 85 per cent due to belly- 

 blown fish. A 25 to 50 per cent loss is not uncommon when feedy fish 

 are taken. It is impossible to mistake the characteristic appearance 

 of belly-blown feedy fish before or after packing. 



TRANSPORTATION OF THE FISH. 



A series of experiments were made to determine, both by chemical 

 analysis and physical examination, the rate at which the fish decom- 

 pose during transportation and their fitness for packing after being 

 transported under different conditions. As a measure of the decom- 

 position the total volatile nitrogen (ammonia and amines) was the 

 only determination made. 



The fish were carried in the hold of a small sardine boat, in a large 

 hogshead, approximately 3| feet at its greatest diameter by 4 feet 

 deep, provided with a wire screen to serve as a well, extending from 

 the top to the bottom, through which the water and pickle could be 

 pumped. Samples were taken as the fish were removed from the 

 water and at 2- to 4-hour intervals thereafter, up to 24 and 30 

 hours. In one case samples of fish which had stood for 50 hours were 

 examined. The samples that were taken during transit were placed 

 in screw-cap Mason jars, which were kept in a mixture of salt and ice. 

 They were frozen by this method, and were thus preserved until 

 analyzed. At the laboratory the fish were cut and eviscerated, and 

 samples made of the flesh and of the intestines and contents. A 

 separate analysis was made of each. 



Fish Carried in Bulk Without Salt. 



Two lots were studied to determine the effect of transporting the 

 fish in bulk without salt. The water dipped up with them was not 

 drained off from the first lot. It was, however, pumped off from the 

 second lot shortly after placing the fish in the hogshead, and at regular 

 intervals thereafter. Five tubs of small fish, 4 to 5 inches in length 

 and weighing 625 pounds net, x composed the first lot. 



The first four samples (Table 10), which were taken at 2-hour 

 intervals, represent conditions while in transit, whereas the sample 

 taken at the end of 20 hours represents conditions while the fish were 

 lying at the wharf overnight. The temperature of the fish in the 

 middle of the hogshead at the time the 20-hour sample was taken 

 was 54° F. The fish of this lot seemed to be in good condition when 

 landed after the 5-hour run. At the end of 20 hours they had begun 



1 This weight included about one-half of the water dipped up with the fish and not drained off. In the 

 ordinary practice of loading the boats at weirs, the water does not completely drain from each tub of fish. 

 The only drainage is through a number of half-inch holes in the measuring tubs while the tub is being filled. 



