EXPORTS AND IMPORTS. 



289 



gives the quantity and value of the exports of domestic 

 fishery products, distributed by kinds, for the fiscal 

 years 1890, 1900, and 1908; and Table 2, on page 291, 

 gives for the same years the value of the domestic 

 exports, by country to which exported. The quantity 

 and value of the imports reported for the fiscal years 

 1890, 1900, and 1908 are distributed according to kind 

 of product and country from which imported in Table 

 3, on page 292; and the value of imports for these years 

 is shown by country from which imported in Table 4, 

 on page 293. 



The exportation and importation of fishery products 

 are governed largely by the location of the source of 

 supply or market, shipping conditions, the direction of 

 trade routes, etc. 



The imports of salmon, which were valued at 

 $229,881, were all from near-by North American coun- 

 tries and the greater part were entered at North Atlan- 

 tic and at northern border and lake ports. Manifestly, 

 the proximity of the Canadian supply to the Eastern 

 states made such importation cheaper than the trans- 

 portation of the domestic product from the Pacific 

 coast. Similar situations, together with shipping 

 conditions and the location of trade routes, account 

 for the exportation of domestic cod, haddock, hake, 

 pollack, and herring to the West Indies and the Central 

 American states, while quantities many times larger 

 were imported from Europe, Canada, the West Indies, 

 and elsewhere. In the case of sponges part of the im- 

 ports consisted of various species not produced on the 

 coast of Florida, although the largest portion came from 

 the West Indies and comprised varieties very similar to 

 those produced in Florida. On account of the loca- 

 tion of trade routes New York is the center of both 

 exportation and importation of this product. Oysters 

 were imported, while they formed the most important 

 fishery product exported next to salmon. Herring, 

 the fish most extensively imported, had only a small 

 value as an export, as explained above. Among other 

 fishery products imported in large quantities were ancho- 

 vies and sardines, pickled mackerel, of which only a small 

 amount was exported, and lobsters, which formed no 

 part of the exports of fishery products. Miscellaneous 

 kinds of fresh fish and shellfish from Canada and other 

 countries owe their interchange with like American 

 products principally to differences in species, but also 

 to the direction of the trade routes. 



Exports. — Although the United States exported 

 fishery products worth $6,166,193 in 1908, the pro- 

 duction as a whole was less than the consumption, and 

 the fish importations, valued at $13,135,724, did not 

 overstock the market. Of the total value of the ex- 

 ports in 1908, 66 per cent represented the value of 

 salmon, either canned, cured, or fresh, and 1 1 per cent 

 that of oysters. 



The preeminence of salmon among exports was 

 maintained in each of the years for which statistics are 

 76786°— 11 19 



given, the quantities differing only slightly. There has 

 been, however, a marked change in the form in which 

 the salmon has been exported; in 1890 practically 

 the entire quantity was canned, but in 1908 only 60 

 per cent of the amount exported was thus prepared. 

 Although less salmon was exported in 1908 than in 

 1890, the value of the smaller exportation was greater 

 by $758,176. On the other hand, the value of the 

 oyster exports decreased. 



The fishery products exported to the United King- 

 dom had a greater value than those exported to any 

 other country, although the value of the exports to 

 Germany was nearly as great. The former country is 

 credited with 26 per cent and the latter with 25 per 

 cent of the total value of our exports of fishery pro- 

 ducts. The German trade was much smaller, rela- 

 tively, in 1900 and 1890, while the purchases of the 

 United Kingdom for those years constituted 40 and 50 

 per cent, respectively, of the total value of the exports 

 of fishery products of the United States. 



The exports to the United Kingdom in 1908 were 

 composed principally of canned salmon and com- 

 prised about half of that commodity exported. This 

 country also took nearly a third of the oyster exports. 

 The exports to Germany consisted almost wholly of 

 cured salmon, over 86 per cent of the total exports of 

 which went to that country. Of the exported whale- 

 bone, over 98 per cent represents product purchased 

 by France. 



The total exports to North American countries have 

 gradually, though slightly, decreased since 1890. The 

 value of the exports to Canada, including Newfound- 

 land, $431,800, was larger in 1908 than that of the 

 exports to any other country of this continent, forming 

 41 per cent of the total value of fishery products ex- 

 ported to countries of North America. Though this 

 represents a decrease in both amount and percentage 

 of the total since 1900, it is nearly twice as great as the 

 corresponding value in 1890. In 1890 the West Indies 

 received a much larger share of our exported fishery 

 products than did Canada, but since then the exports 

 to these islands have steadily decreased, and a decrease 

 has been manifest since 1900 even in the case of Cuba, 

 despite the close political relations between that island 

 and the United States during the past 10 years. But in 

 view of the fact that there has been an increase as com- 

 pardwith 1890 in the value of the fishery products im- 

 ported from the West Indies, it seems probable that 

 the home demand rather than any loss of markets 

 caused the decrease in the exportations to these 

 islands. The exports of fishery products to the 

 Central American states were much larger than in 

 1900 and 1890, this increase being in line with the 

 increase in general trade with these states. Mexico, 

 especially since 1900, also shows a large increase in 

 imports of fishery products from the United States, 

 which was the result of the increased importation of 

 canned salmon. 



