(2) processing of large fish tends to limit capacity of precooking equipment and complicates butchering, precooking, cooling, and cleaning procedures, since cooking time and subsequent stages of canning technique are dependant to a considerable degree upon the size of the fish, and (3) because of unfavorable quality differential with large fish, the cash return may be less per ton of raw material, and in some instances, the fish may actually be packed as chunk or grated tuna, selling at substantially less per case.

The local demand for fresh tuna is largely restricted to the Oriental peoples who prefer it as raw fish. The meat of the larger tunas generally has a higher oil content than does the meat of the smaller fish. For this reason, the large fish are more in demand for "sashimi," since it is maintained that this quality produces a superior flavor.

LITERATURE CITED

BROCK, VERNON E.

1949. A preliminary report on "Parathunnus sibi" in Hawaiian waters and a key to the tunas and tuna-like fishes of Hawaii. Pac. Sci., vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 271-77.

SHAPIRO, SIDNEY

1948. The Japanese tuna fisheries. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, F. L. 297, pp. 5-50.

REFRIGERATED LOCKER STORAGE OF FISH AND SHELLFISH

If fish are placed directly in the refrigerated locker without suitable protective treatment, several undesirable changes will take place during cold storage. A gradual loss of moisture will occur until the fish are shrunken and dried. This dehydration not only causes an unsightly appearance and alteration in texture, but also results in loss in weight and flavor. If fish with appreciable fat content are not protected from the air of the cold storage room, oxidation takes place, causing discoloration and eventually total spoilage due to rancidity.

--Fishery Leaflet 128

BYPRODUCTS: Work was begun on the analyses of several hundred fish livers brought back by the Alaska exploratory vessel last spring from the northern Bering Sea area. These samples were made up largely of gray cod, lemon flounder, and yellowfin flounder but a few flathead flounder and other miscellaneous species were included. As far as is known, no vitamin A measurements have ever been made of livers from fish in this area.

REFRIGERATION: The last examination was made of 10 packs of frozen king crab after 68 to 72 weeks of storage at 0°F. Considerable variation existed in the quality of different pieces of crab meat within a single package. The presence of isolated pieces of poor quality crab meat was the limiting factor in governing the storage life of the samples.

Tests were conducted on the fillet samples processed at Gloucester for the freezing-fish-at-sea experiments after the first month of storage. Free drip, press drip, salt content, and taste tests were conducted on cod, haddock, hake, and pollock fillet samples from fish frozen round in brine and in an air blast. These samples were compared with other samples which were gutted and iced to serve as controls. From a taste standpoint the samples from frozen round fish were preferred with no preference indicated between either the freezing in brine or the freezing before an air blast. Apparently brine freezing did not materially effect the salt content of the processed fillet.

After 8 months of storage at 0°F., the fish that were first wrapped in vegetable parchment, then dipped in water, followed by wrapping in cellophane and freezing are still well coated with ice all over and show no signs of desiccation. The fish that were frozen first, then glazed and wrapped in cellophane show localized desiccation.

SANITATION: The U. S. Public Health Service has approved a grant of $10,000 to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission for the purpose of making a sanitary survey of the shellfish areas along the Atlantic Coast. The survey will be under the direction of the Fish and Wildlife Service, the primary research agency for the Commission. The industrial waste study will include: 1. Compilation and analysis of past efforts and surveys. 2. A determination of the economic value of the polluted shellfish areas. 3. Assembly of findings with recommendations.

PRESERVATION: Tests are being conducted on the use of chemical preservation for salmon eggs without the use of heat processing. Preservatives such as mono

chloroacetic acid, sodium benzoate, chloroform, citric acid, sodium borate, salicylic acid, carbon disulfide, and sodium sulfite were tried. Sodium sulfite seems to be the most effective. Other chemicals will be tested such as the various quaternary ammonium compounds.

ANALYTICAL METHODS: Considerable progress was made in connection with microbiological assay of vitamin B12. Reasonably good checks were obtained for the particular group of tests on samples run on different days and good recovery is being obtained when known amounts of vitamin B12 are added to the samples.

Work has begun on biotin assays.

TECHNICAL NOTE NO. 2-APPARATUS FOR EVAPORATION

OF LOW-BOILING, INFLAMMABLE SOLVENTS

A device for evaporating low-boiling inflammable liquids, such as carbon disulfide, is shown in the figure.

DEVICE FOR EVAPORATING LOW-BOILING, INFLAMMABLE SOLVENTS.

It is made from pieces of glass tubing 3/8 inch in diameter and 15 inches long. These are connected together by rubber tubing, as indicated in the diagram. Heat for the evaporation of the solvent is supplied by passing hot water through the glass tubing.

Soft copper tubing can be used in place of the glass. The copper has the advantage that it can be bent easily to conform to the shape of the evaporating vessel. Thus, where a beaker is used, both the bottom and side of the container can be heated.

--Roberto Mercado, Graduate Student University of Washington School of Fisheries Seattle, Washington

TRENDS

AND

DEVELOPMENTS

Additions to the Fleet of U. S. Fishing Vessels

During October this year, 74 vessels of 5 net tons and over received their first documents as fishing craft--24 less than in October 1948, according to the Bureau of Customs of the Treasury Department. California led with 12 vessels, followed by North Carolina and Alaska with 8 vessels each. During the first 10 months of 1949, a total of 878 vessels were documented, compared with 1,060 during the same period in 1948.

Vessels Obtaining Their First Documents as Fishing Craft, October 1949

74

98

878

1,060

12

1,184

Note: Vessels have been assigned to the various sections on the basis of their home port.

ECA Procurement Authorizations for Fishery Products

No fishery products were included among the procurement authorizations for commodities and raw materials announced by the Economic Cooperation Administration during November 1949. Authorizations for fishery products in November 1948 amounted to $4,752,000.

The total authorized for fishery products since the beginning of the ECA program on April 1, 1948, through November 30, 1949, was $33,961,911, somewhat lower than the total through October 31, 1949, due to several decreases in authorizations during the month. During November there was a decrease of $43,000 in an an authorization of $162,000 for the purchase of whale and fish oil from the United States and Possessions for delivery to Korea; a decrease of $1,000 in an authorization for salt fish procured from Canada for delivery to Italy; and a decrease of $335,000 in an authorization for salt fish to have been procured from Newfoundland for delivery to Italy. The last transaction involved a decrease in quantity while the other two were due to adjustments in prices.

To

ECA on November 6 announced plans for publishing a directory of the names and products of American small business firms for the attention of overseas buyers. Names and products of small independent firms desiring to enter or continue to export trade under the Marshall Plan will be listed in a directory which will be distributed by ECA overseas missions to European importers and other buyers, and will serve as a ready reference to available American sources of supply. compile the directory, ECA asked small business firms to register by December 10, 1949. This directory is another step in ECA's five-point program to give small firms greater opportunities to share in European recovery orders placed by foreign buyers in the United States. ECA was instructed by Congress to make available to prospective purchasers overseas information regarding products and services produced by small U. S. independent enterprises.

A series of four regional meetings for the extension of the small business field counseling service to various parts of the country were held in Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston by ECA the latter part of November and the early part of December. Objective of the meetings was to obtain the cooperation of business and banking leaders and export specialists who will act as volunteer, unofficial counselors to small businessmen interested in examining the possibilities of exporting under the Marshall Plan.

Although Western Europe took further strides towards economic recovery and political stability in the second quarter of 1949, ECA on November 15 in its fifth report to Congress asserted that Europe's inability to convert her growing output and increased volume of trade into a reduction of the dollar gap remained a basic problem. The report, covering the period April 3 to June 30, 1949, pointed out that total exports of Marshall Plan countries were at a postwar high but that shipments to the United States fell off and dollar earnings declined.

The November issue of ECA's Recovery Guides stated that following devaluation of their currencies at the end of September, the ERP countries now have the opportunity to undertake further measures required to achieve equilibrium and freedom in world trade. The report continues:

"While these measures will take many and varied forms, they must all work
towards:

"(1) Reallocating resources and production away from the domestic
market and towards the foreign market, and away from the soft
currency areas and towards the hard currency areas, and

"(2) Freeing world trade from tariff barriers, quota restrictions,
exchange controls, price discrimination and inadequate pro-
duction."

Federal Purchases of Fishery Products

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, OCTOBER 1949: Purchases of fresh and frozen fishery products by the Army Quartermaster Corps during October 1949 for the U. S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force for military feeding totaled 1,650,325 pounds (valued at $559,252). This was a decline of 12 percent in quantity and 13 percent in value, compared with September 1949; and an increase of 9 percent in quantity, but a decline of 1 percent in value, compared with October 1948.