REPORTS OF STORAGE HOLDINGS. 



43 



HERRING. 



This is "a very important food fish found in the North Atlantic as 

 far south as Sandy Hook. It is never found in brackish or fresh 

 water. 'SperHng' or 'brit' denote the differences in the age of the 

 fish.' They weigh from one-half to one pound, the average length 

 being 10 inches. They are caught in pounds, traps, weirs, and gill 

 nets, and by 'torching,' As a food fish they are used fresh, salted, 

 pickled, smoked, and canned. They are also used extensively for 

 bait in the cod, haddock, halibut, and hake fisheries." 



With the herring are included alewives and bluebacks. The ale- 

 wives "are found in waters adjacent to the sea. They are known 

 along the Potomac as 'branch herring'; on the Albemarle, the 'big- 

 eyed' and 'wall-eyed' herring; in North Carolina, the 'alewife'; and 

 in Connecticut as 'ellwife' and 'ellwhop.' It appears in the rivers 

 three or four weeks earlier than the 'glut herring' or the shad. Another 

 species known as alewives is found from the Carolinas to the Gulf of 

 Mexico. It is known in the Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle 

 Sound as 'glut herring'; in the Ogeechee River as 'English herring'; 

 in the St. Johns River as 'herring' ; and in Massachusetts and during 

 later runs in the Rappahannock as the 'blueback.' It is also known as 

 'black-belly,' 'saw-belly,' and 'kyack.' It is less abundant than the 

 other species and much less valuable as a food fish. Both species 

 average about one-half pound in weight and 8 to 10 inches in length. 

 They are caught in nets, seines, weirs, etc., and are of very great 

 importance as a food fish." 



The monthly reports from January 1 to April, inclusive, showed 

 very small stocks of the frozen herring, varying from almost 6,000,000 

 pounds on January 15 to less than 2,000,000 on April 15. The greatest , 

 increase occurred from April 15 to July 15, amounting to more than 

 14,000,000 pounds. By August 15 there were 16,896,289 pounds 

 frozen and in cold storage, which amount was almost one and one-half 

 times greater than on the same date of the previous year. By Decem- 

 ber 15 the holdings had decreased only slightly and amounted to 

 almost 16,000,000 pounds. 



Table 34. — Monthly cold storage holdings of frozen herring during 1918, and increase 

 or decrease during each month. 



Month. 



January. -. 

 February-. 



March 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August 



September 



October 



November 

 December - 



Holdings 

 on fifteenth 

 of month. 



Pounds. 



5,891,359 



3,615,180 



2,184,705 



1,811,083 



5,239,973 



12,535,159 



16,175,824 



16,896,289 



16,335,369 



15,785,937 



15,784,574 



15,929,751 



Relative 

 percent- 



Per cent. 

 34.9 

 21.4 

 12.9 

 10.7 

 31.0 

 74.2 

 95.7 

 100.0 

 96.7 

 93.4 

 93.4 

 94.3 



Increase or decrease 

 during month. 



Pounds. 



-2,276,179 

 -1,430,475 



- 373,622 

 + 3,428,890 

 + 7,295.186 

 + 3,640,665 

 + 720,465 



- 560,920 



- 549,432 



- 1,363 

 145,177 



3,129,653 



+ 



Per cent. 



- 38.6 



- 39.6 



- 17.1 

 + 189.3 

 + 139.2 

 + 29.0 

 + 4.5 



- 3.3 



- 3.4 



- 0.009 

 + 0.9 



- 19.6 



