﻿FISH-SCRAP FERTILIZER INDUSTRY OF ATLANTIC COAST. 19 



fish scrap and oil. If caught in very great numbers their depletion 

 would seem to be inevitable. Therefore they can not be regarded as 

 a source possessing both permanence and abundance. 



CRUSTACEANS. 



Horseshoe crabs, it has been reported by Stevenson, have been used 

 in large numbers in certain localities for fertilizer purposes. The 

 heads and shells of shrimps are used, likewise, though their use is 

 both local and unimportant. The shells obtained at lobster and crab 

 canneries have been found to be admirable as " fillers " for finished 

 fertilizers. Besides carrying a certain percentage of nitrogen, they 

 contain a large amount of lime of high agricultural value. At one 

 fertilizer mixing plant on Chesapeake Bay over 250 tons of ground 

 crab shells are used annually. 



THE ALLEGED DESTRUCTION OF FOOD FISH IN THE MENHADEN 



INDUSTRY. 



Tt has been believed by many that not only menhaden have been 

 utilized by the operators for the manufacture of fish scrap, but that 

 any fish available or that could be caught in the seines were so em- 

 ployed, and that in this wa,y great numbers of food fish were de- 

 stroyed annually. It was asserted that so great was this destruction 

 that the decrease in the supply of food fish along the shores was 

 quite appreciable. In contradiction it was maintained by the fisher- 

 men that the number of food fish taken with the menhaden was in- 

 sufficient to supply the crew with fresh fish and therefore the 

 charges were quite groundless. 



In 1894 the Bureau of Fisheries investigated the question of the 

 alleged destruction of food fish by the menhaden fishermen. The 

 results obtained were unqualifiedly corroborative of the claims of 

 the menhaden fishermen. In spite of this investigation and its posi- 

 tive results, the belief is still maintained among certain people that 

 food fish are destroyed in the menhaden fishery. For that reason this 

 brief discussion of the Bureau of Fisheries' investigation is included 

 in this report. 



An agent of the bureau mentioned was placed on each of two 

 vessels, one a "double-gang" steamer, equipped with two purse 

 seines and crew requisite for their manipulation, and the other a 

 " single-gang " steamer. The investigation covered the entire fish- 

 ing season of those steamers, during which time they took about 

 28,000,000 fish, or one-twentieth of the entire catch of the season. 



The fishing operations covered the entire coast from Maine to 

 North Carolina, inclusive of the bays and sounds. The seines were 

 hauled a total number of 1,078 times, 132 of which failed to catch 



