xlii 



Thirty-second Annual Report 



position, all branches of the industry, primary and subsidiary, being- 

 well I'epresented, while other districts for which substantial totals are 

 returned are Shetland, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Leith and Greenock. 



BY-PRODUCTS. 



The manufacture of fish offal into its various by-products, although 

 not conducted on the same scale as in some other countries — notably 

 Norway and the United States — is nevertheless a well-established 

 industry in Scotland, some 25 factories, whose value (including plant) 

 is estimated at £109,000, having been so engaged in 1913. 



The industry, as might be expected, is carried on mainly at the 

 important fishing ports on the East Coast, and is centred in Aberdeen, 

 where about half of the factories are situated. Owing to the distance 

 from the factories, the comparatively small quantity of fish landed at 

 the majority of the creeks, and other disabilities, little attempt to utilise 

 fish waste has been made on the West Coast beyond its disposal to 

 neighbouring farmers and crofters, but the quantity of offal available 

 must in the aggregate be considerable, and it is probable that, if its 

 collection were properly organised, the industry would be capable of 

 considerable development. 



The principal products derived from fish-offal are fish-meal, which 

 is manufactured from the heads and bones, medicinal and industrial 

 oils from the livers, and oil and manure from the intestines. Medicinal 

 oil is obtained principally from fresh cod livers. Industrial oil is ex- 

 tracted from mixed livers and the intestines, and after being refined is 

 used principally in the process of tanning, the stearine or solid residue 

 going to the soap factories. Fish manure is used chiefly as a fertiliser 

 in beet growing, but it has also been tried on tea and rubber plan- 

 tations. The meal is used for feeding swine and catth;, and is nearly 

 all exported, principally to the Continent, via Hamburg, the United 

 States, via New York, Charleston, and Savannah, and to Japan 

 (Yokohama). 



It is a difficult matter to ascertain the total production of these 

 commodities, but the figures for Aberdeen may be taken as a reliable 

 criterion, and during 1913 the output from the eleven factories situated 

 in or about that city was as follows : — 



Quantity. Value. 



Fish meal and manure . 6,500 tons £52,000 

 Industrial oil . . . 1,430 tons 23,000 

 Medicinal oil . . . 83,200 gallons 10,400 



Total . . £85,400 



The current market price of fish-meal was £9 10s. per ton, and of 

 manure, £8 10s. The prices paid by the manufacturers for the raw 

 materials were — for hard offal (heads and bones) from 22s. 6d. to 28s. 6d. 

 per ton ; for soft offal (guts, etc.), from 8s. 6d. to 18s. per ton, or an 

 average of lis. ; for cod livers, 7s. 6d. per cwt. ; and for mixed livers, 

 5s. per cwt. 



Although hardly coming under the category of offal, fish roes 

 form another important by-product, a large quantity being annually 



