AMERICA'S SURPASSING FISHERIES 



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variety, and excellence anywhere else in 

 the world. They include the shad, ale- 

 wives, smelt, striped bass, and perches of 

 the Atlantic slope, and the salmons of the 

 Pacific. The latter have been supple- 

 mented by the shad and striped bass, in- 

 troduced from the east and now among 

 the most abundant of the river fishes of 

 the Pacific States. 



Among the important strictly fresh- 

 water fishes, first place must be given to 

 the trout, whitefish. herrings, and pike 

 perch of the Great Lakes, and to the 

 basses, catfishes, buffalo-fishes, suckers, 

 and carp of the interior waters generally. 

 The last-named fish, introduced into Eu- 

 rope from Asia some centuries ago and 

 brought to America from Europe about 

 1876, has become the most widely dis- 

 tributed, most abundant, and most im- 

 portant single fish of the fresh waters of 

 America. 



MOST ABUNDANT ECONOMIC FlSH OF 

 ATLANTIC SEABOARD 



The most numerous fish of economic 

 importance on the east coast of the 

 United States is the menhaden, which is 

 known also by a large number of other 

 names, some of them inappropriate and 

 misleading. It is a member of the her- 

 ring family; goes in great schools in the 

 ocean, bays, and sounds, and supports a 

 fishery from Maine to Florida. 



Although the menhaden is a palatable 

 food fish, its principal value now, as in 

 the past, is for conversion into oil and 

 fertilizer. At times it is exceedingly fat, 

 and yields a cheap grade of oil much 

 used in the industries, while the part re- 

 maining after the extraction of the oil is 

 rich in ammonia and is one of the best 

 fertilizers, whether employed alone or in 

 combination with other ingredients. 



The great abundance of the menhaden, 

 its wide distribution on our coast, and its 

 peculiar properties led many years ago to 

 the establishment of an industry which 

 soon became, and continues to be, one of 

 the leading branches of the fisheries. In 

 addition to the major uses referred to, 

 large quantities are utilized as bait in the 

 line fisheries for cod, mackerel, bluefish, 

 and other fishes, and insignificant num- 

 bers are used as human food. 



The chief purpose, however, which the 

 menhaden serves is as food for numerous 

 valuable fishes along the entire coast. It 

 forms at times the principal diet of blue- 

 fish, swordfish, squeteague, bonito. mack- 

 erel, Spanish mackerel, etc., and often 

 when we eat these fishes we are really 

 consuming transformed menhaden. The 

 abundance or scarcity of menhaden in a 

 given season or on a given part of the 

 coast may determine the abundance or 

 scarcity of various important food fishes; 

 and for this reason, in addition to its im- 

 mediate value to man, it has by some per- 

 sons been regarded as the most important 

 fish on the Atlantic coast of the United 

 States. 



For many years the menhaden fishery 

 has been the subject of much discussion 

 and local opposition. In the opinion of 

 many people, the catching of enormous 

 numbers each year by means of purse 

 seines has a tendency to make scarce the 

 fishes which prey on the menhaden, and 

 thus injury is done to other fisheries, par- 

 ticularly those carried on with lines by 

 professional fishermen and sportsmen. 



It is impossible to discuss this impor- 

 tant question properly within reasonable 

 space limits, and it will suffice to state 

 that while the quantities of menhaden 

 caught by man are insignificant by com- 

 parison with those consumed by other 

 animals ; while it may be unsafe to ascribe 

 the scarcity of any food fish in a given 

 year or locality to the effects of the men- 

 haden fishery, inasmuch as some of our 

 most important fishes are known to have 

 exhibited periods of scarcity before the 

 menhaden fishery was inaugurated, and 

 while it is improbable that the operations 

 of the fishermen have had any permanent 

 influence on the abundance of the men- 

 haden, nevertheless there is reason to be- 

 lieve that the presence of desirable food 

 fishes in certain waters may be materially 

 affected by the capture therein of large 

 quantities of menhaden, and the fishery 

 for the latter species should therefore be 

 subject to Federal or State legislation. 



Some idea of the abundance of men- 

 haden and the magnitude of the fishery 

 may be gathered from the fact that in 

 191 3, when the Bureau of Fisheries made 

 a special investigation and a statistical 



