1941: Fisheries

The fisheries of the world annually yield 35,000,000,000 pounds of fishery products, valued at $762,000,000 to the fishermen, according to the most recent tabulations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The annual yield by countries of the North American continent and adjacent islands is about 6,300,000,000 pounds, valued at $135,000,000, with the United States' fisheries contributing 4,400,000,000 pounds, worth $96,500,000.

The fisheries in continental United States and Alaska employ 131,000 fishermen, 5,400 vessels having a total capacity of 113,000 net tons, 32,000 motor boats, and 37,000 small boats and skiffs. Auxiliary vessels used for transporting fish number 1,400 with a net tonnage of 50,000. Shore operations in fish-packing plants and in the water transport of fishery products employ 97,000 people, while some 300,000 others are engaged in allied industries, such as boat building, can and box making, rope and net manufacture, and the like.

General Situation.

During 1941 the economic condition of the fishery industry improved in the United States. This condition prevailed largely because of higher prices which were received for the catch and the increased demand for fish not only by the civil population but also by the military and for Lend-Lease purposes. Large blocks of canned salmon and sardines were purchased by the Government under the Lease-Lend Act for shipment to Great Britain and other democracies. In fact, the salmon and sardine canning industries were urged to pack as many fish as possible to meet the abnormal demands from abroad for food.

In order to make the fullest use of our fishery harvest toward supplying a balanced diet for our people and at the same time furnish our people with fishery foods to replace the large shipments of canned fish sent abroad, the United States Government through the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior conducted a project to increase market facilities for fishery products, under the provisions of Public Act No. 363 of the 76th Congress. As a part of this work, the Service expanded its market news program to include radio broadcasts covering price and supply information for fishermen and others in the industry and programs to inform consumers as to species of fish in the local markets, 'best buys,' and other useful information which would enable house-wives to purchase and use fish in a more economical manner. The cooperation of over 100 radio stations was obtained on this work. In an effort to assist the fishery industry in Puerto Rico to make fuller use of the fishery resources found around the island, the Fish and Wildlife Service established a fishery research laboratory at Mayaguez. This began operations in July. Research here will be conducted in cooperation with the Insular Department of Agriculture and Commerce. The Service also continued research work at its technological laboratories in College Park, Md., Seattle, Wash., and Ketchikan, Alaska.

The Federal Government, through the Fish and Wildlife Service, concluded a year's study of the distribution and abundance of king crabs off the Alaska Peninsula, and methods of capture and canning. As a result of this work it was found that a commercial crab canning industry is feasible. This is especially true in Bering Sea where it appears the crabs are in greatest commercial abundance before and following the salmon-canning season there. During past years the crab fishery in Bering Sea was conducted by Japanese enterprise, much of the canned product eventually being marketed in the United States.

The cod fisheries off New England, Canada, and Newfoundland continued to yield an enormous supply of fish. According to the most recent tabulations the take of codfish in this region continued to amount to about 1,000,000,000 pounds annually. The yield during 1941 will approach this figure, although the fishery was prosecuted mainly by vessels from the North American continent, as the war precluded participation by several of the warring countries in Europe that sent expeditions to this region in 1939 and previous years.

Important species of fish in the aquatic harvest of the United States, from the standpoint of volume, are pilchard (sardine), salmon, menhaden, sea herring, haddock, mackerel, cod, tuna and tunalike fishes, shrimp, oysters, and halibut. These usually make up about 80 per cent of the catch. The entire catch by United States fishermen is made up of about 160 species or groups of species.

Pilchard.

This fish is caught off the Pacific Coast and is the basis of a large sardine-canning industry in California, as well as being used for reduction into meal and oil at plants in Washington, Oregon, and California. During the season ending March 1941 there were 3,116,000 standard cases of sardines packed in this section, which was about the same as in the previous season. A considerable portion of the pack was marketed in England. The output of meal amounted to 72,000 tons, while the yield of oil was 12,557,000 gallons. The catch of pilchards during the first few months of the 1941-42 season, which opened Aug. 1, was very much larger than during the early part of the previous season when a strike occurred among fishermen in this fishery which lasted until early October 1940. It is expected that the pack of California canned sardines for the present season will be about double the pack of last season.

Salmon.

This fish is the basis of a canning industry on the Pacific Coast from Oregon to the Bering Sea. The great bulk of the United States pack is canned in Alaska. There the production during the 1941 season, according to preliminary reports, amounted to 6,865,000 standard cases, compared with 5,043,000 standard cases, valued at $31,500,000 in 1940. The pack of canned salmon in North America (Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia) in 1941, according to preliminary reports, amounted to 9,846,000 standard cases, compared with a pack of about 7,012,000 standard cases in 1940.

Menhaden.

This fish is taken along the Atlantic Coast south of Cape Cod and in waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It is used for reduction into meal and oil. In 1940 the production amounted to 71,769 tons of meal and scrap, valued at $2,695,000; and 5,774,000 gallons of oil, valued at $1,305,000. Observations indicate that the 1941 output of these products may be about the same as in 1940, as the production of oil through the first three quarters of the year amounted to 2,304,000 gallons, compared with 2,965,000 gallons for the same period of 1940, and a heavy run of menhaden occurred in North Carolina late in November.

Sea Herring.

The Maine sardine-canning industry is based on this fish. In 1940 the pack there amounted to 1,118,000 standard cases, valued at $3,736,000. This was one of the smallest packs in recent years. In 1941 the pack will be one of the largest in history since there was a good run of herring.

Cod, Haddock, Pollock, Flounders, Rosefish, and Whiting.

These species, taken on the fishing banks off the North Atlantic seaboard and in the inshore waters, form the basis of the fresh and frozen packaged-fish industry. Their combined pack as packaged fish in 1940 amounted to 114,119,000 pounds, valued at $11,570,000. According to figures available by the first of December 1941, the production of these species as packaged fish this year will exceed the pack for the previous year.

Mackerel.

This species is found along the North Atlantic Coast, where it is marketed mainly as fresh and frozen fish, although some are canned; and off California, where it forms the basis of an extensive canning industry. The catch along the North Atlantic in 1941 will about equal that for 1940, when it amounted to 20,726,000 pounds. Through the first three quarters of 1941 the landings of this fish at the important New England ports amounted to about 16,232,000 pounds, compared with about 16,863,000 pounds for the same period of 1940. The peak of the season is in late summer. The output of canned mackerel on both coasts in 1940 was 1,419,000 standard cases, valued at $4,088,000. In California, the pack for the first eight months of 1941 amounted to only 253,000 standard cases, compared with 418,000 cases during the same period of 1940. In New England considerable activity was evidenced in the canning of mackerel during 1941.

Tuna and Tunalike Fishes.

These fishes are taken in Pacific waters off Washington, Oregon, and California and south to the equator. They form the basis of a large canning industry on the Pacific Coast. Quantities also are taken off the New England Coast and canned in Massachusetts. In 1940 the pack on both coasts amounted to 4,187,000 standard cases, worth about $23,714,000. This was the largest pack since the inception of the industry in 1909. In California the pack amounted to 3,975,000 standard cases, valued at $22,337,000. In 1941 the tuna fishery was prosecuted intensively in all sections but the pack this year will not be as large as in the previous year as the catch has not come up to expectations. In California the pack was only 1,781,000 standard cases through the first three quarters compared with 2,618,000 standard cases for the same period of 1940.

Shrimp.

The main production areas for this shellfish are along the South Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Until recently most of the catch has been canned, but each year now larger and larger quantities are being marketed in the fresh and frozen condition. Production of canned shrimp in 1940 amounted to 990,000 standard cases (16,744,000 pounds), valued at $4,318,000; with the pack of frozen shrimp amounting to 15,986,000 pounds. The pack of canned shrimp will be smaller during the season 1941-42, as it had amounted to only about 616,000 standard cases by Nov. 29, compared with 751,000 standard cases up to about the same date in 1940. On the other hand the pack of frozen shrimp in 1941 will exceed that of 1940, for, by Nov. 15, it had already reached 16,500,000 pounds, compared with 16,000,000 pounds for the entire year 1940.

Oysters.

Oysters are the most universally distributed aquatic food resource taken in the United States, for they occur in every seacoast state from Massachusetts to Texas, inclusive, on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and in all the Pacific Coast states. The North Atlantic oysters are marketed mainly in the fresh, shucked condition, while those taken in the South Atlantic and Gulf sections are used chiefly for canning. Large quantities of eastern oysters are transplanted to California where they mature, but do not reproduce. Seed oysters from Japan are planted in Washington and Oregon where a large volume of the mature oysters are used for canning. This oyster does not reproduce in the waters of these States. During 1940 the production of canned oysters in the entire United States amounted to 645,000 standard cases, valued at $2,527,000. It is estimated that the production in 1941 will not vary much from the output in 1940.

Halibut.

The principal halibut fishery of North America is located off the Pacific Coast from Oregon to the Alaska Peninsula. It is prosecuted by the United States and Canada. In the interests of conservation this resource is regulated according to the terms of a convention between these two countries. A maximum annual take, or quota, is established each year under the terms of the convention. When the combined catches by fishermen of the two countries reach this quota the fishery is closed for the year. By treaty arrangements the fishery opens in the spring each year sometime from February to April. In 1941 the season opened on April 1, and the quota was reached by Sept. 14, about two weeks earlier than in the previous year, making it the shortest season in the history of the Pacific halibut fishery. By the close of the season the landings at ports in the United States and Canada had amounted to 50,237,000 pounds, compared with 52,000,000 pounds in 1940. Prices in 1941 averaged higher than in 1940, being about 11.8 cents per pound compared with 10.3 cents per pound in 1940. Practically the entire catch was marketed fresh or frozen.

Whaling.

A convention has been concluded between 26 powers of the world to conserve this fishery, the United States being a party to the convention. During the 1940-41 season the fishery in the Antarctic was conducted mainly by Japan. The United States operated no vessels in the Antarctic during that season and in 1941 had one land plant for whale reduction which was operated in California. During the 1939-40 season in the Antarctic one United States vessel was engaged in the fishery producing about 2,500,000 gallons of whale oil. In 1940 the production of whale products on the Pacific Coast included 60,000 gallons of oil, valued at $22,000. According to preliminary figures the output of whale oil on the Pacific Coast in 1941 will be less than in the previous year, for the production totaled only 35,000 gallons through the first three quarters of the year.

Fish Landings at Certain Important Ports.

During the first three quarters of 1941 the vessel landings of all kinds of fish at the principal New England fishing ports of Boston and Gloucester, Mass., and Portland, Me., amounted to 363,654,000 pounds, valued at $11,211,000 compared with 275,253,000 pounds, valued at $7,839,000 for the same period in 1940. Principal species landed at these ports are haddock, cod, rosefish, mackerel, pollock, whiting, and flounders.

During the first three quarters of 1941 the volume of fish handled at Seattle, Wash., amounted to 47,503,000 pounds, valued at $4,452,000, compared with 40,182,000 pounds, valued at $3,212,000 handled during the same period of 1940. Species of importance at Seattle are salmon, halibut, flounders, crabs, and 'lingcod.'

Frozen Fish.

During the twelve-month period ending with Nov. 15, 1941, there were 241,181,000 pounds of fishery products frozen compared with 202,000,000 pounds during the previous twelve-month period. On Nov. 15, 1941 there were 115,445,000 pounds of frozen fish and shellfish in cold-storage warehouses of the United States compared with a five-year average of this date of 89,000,000 pounds. Principal species frozen are cod, haddock, pollock, halibut, salmon, rosefish, shrimp, and whiting.

Foreign Fishery Trade.

Unusual activity was recorded in the foreign fishery trade of the United States during 1941 with the exports exceeding the imports. This balance in favor of the United States was due mainly to the large amounts of canned salmon and sardines shipped abroad and a decline in the imports of fishery products from Europe, chiefly canned sardines and fish-liver oils.

Fish Consumption.

The per capita consumption of fish in the United States is about 13 pounds annually. This compares with an annual per capita of 20 pounds in Canada, 39 pounds in Denmark, 44 pounds in England, 52 pounds in Sweden, and 64 pounds in Japan.