UTILIZATION OF THE FISH WASTE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 43 

 OBJECTIONS TO THE CENTRAL RENDERING STATION. 



SHORTNESS OF SEASON. 



A serious difficulty in the way of making a commercial success of 

 the central rendering station is the shortness of the season during 

 which the plant would be in operation. This would be even shorter 

 than that during which the canneries would be in operation, as both 

 preceding and following the actual canning of fish there is a period 

 when allied work is pursued. Furthermore, the rendering plant 

 would have to be in readiness to handle whatever material the man- 

 agement had contracted for (certainly to be the entire output of 

 waste of the cannery contracted with) whether it became available 

 in large or small amounts. The result would be that for about nine 

 months of the year the plant would be closed up ; and for a consid- 

 erable portion of the remaining three, while being held in readiness 

 to operate, it still would be idle. This objection is entirely valid 

 from the point of view of output, but not necessarily so from that 

 of profit or investment. Money is invested in such enterprises, not 

 because of their output in product, but because of the profits accruing. 

 If the profits of the short season's operations represent an adequate 

 interest on the investment, then the expenditures for plant are justi- 

 fied and objections on the score of shortness of operating season are 

 eliminated. Aside from the inconvenience of reorganizing annually 

 the corps of emplo}^ees, the period of inactivity may be considered a 

 benefit, as affording the management opportunity for other pursuit. 



The inactivity of the plant during the operating season is a more 

 serious obstacle to the success of the undertaking. There would be 

 periods when no material was being delivered to the plant when it 

 and its corps of laborers would be held in readiness for immediate 

 operation. This would involve an expenditure of money for wages 

 and of fuel for maintaining heat in the boilers from which there 

 would be no returns. 



A part of the equipment of such a rendering plant, the tugs and 

 scows, it should be possible to keep employed profitably during the 

 winter months. Whether this could be done would depend somewhat 

 on the location of the plant and to a larger extent on the design of 

 the tugs and scows. 



In this connection it should be pointed out that the equipment pro- 

 vided for the treatment of cannery waste could be applied during 

 several months of the year, when fish refuse is not available, to the 

 treatment of kelp for the preparation of fertilizer. This topic is 

 considered more fully in a subsequent chapter. 



