GOVERNMENT MESSENGERS PLANTING ElSH 



Before transferring fish from cans to an open stream, it is necessary gradually to bring 

 the water in the cans to the approximate temperature of that in the stream; otherwise the 

 fish will experience a shock. 



The great wealth of our waters has 

 made it possible for our people peremp- 

 torily to discard much and to choose the 

 best, or what they regarded as the best ; 

 and the early development of the fish- 

 eries has been characterized by the rejec- 

 tion of wholesome aquatic products that 

 have now taken a prominent place in the 

 market after years or generations of 

 neglect or disrepute. In fact, in every 

 important fishing region people are still 

 living who recall the time when igno- 

 rance and prejudice placed a ban on cer- 

 tain aquatic foods which have since be- 

 come valued commodities in the identical 

 sections where they were formerly con- 

 demned or ignored. 



Among the well-known examples of 

 water resources that were once whollv or 



largely neglected, but are now extensively 

 utilized, or are beginning to be more gen- 

 erally appreciated, are the haddock and 

 the winter flounder on the north Atlantic 

 coast ; the tunny, the shad, and the minor 

 salmons of the Pacific seaboard, and the 

 sea mussel of New England. 



Especially noteworthy has been the 

 recent establishment of a tunny fishery 

 and a very extensive tunny canning in- 

 dustry in southern California. Of the 

 hundreds of thousands of people who 

 now regularly eat the delicious canned 

 "tuna," few realize that a few years ago 

 not a single fish of this species was util- 

 ized in America, and that our entire sup- 

 pi}' came from the Mediterranean. 



Another conspicuous case has been the 

 recent development in southern New 





