liberated areas. Requirements of each group are presented to the Food Requirements and Allocations Committee--the Civilian Requirements Branch of the Office of Distribution, WFA, representing U. S. civilians.

Vitamin A has vital civilian food enrichment and pharmaceutical uses, especially for babies. About 40 trillion units of the civilian allocation will go into pharmaceutical preparations, 8 trillion units for food enrichment, and the rest for feed enrichment. The vitamin is especially important to eyesight and its deficiency causes night blindness, diseased condition of skin and hair. The natural vitamin is found principally in fish liver oil, liver, butter, milk, eggs, fruits, and vegetables. It is extracted from fish liver oil for food enrichment and pharmaceutical uses although carotene--a pro-vitamin A extracted from plant sources-is also used to some extent.

VITAMIN A PRICES REVISED

A revised schedule of maximum prices at production levels for Vitamin A natural oils and concentrates was announced January 27, by the OPA, in a move to discourage "blending operations" which have tended to disrupt the normal price structure and limited the supply of Vitamin A fish liver oils of certain potencies available to buyers. The action will not change weighted average prices of Vitamin A nor cash returns to the industry, OPA said, nor will it affect prices paid by the consumer for the finished products containing Vitamin A oils. The principal change from the previous regulation is to group into three main classifications the oils and concentrates. Formerly, there were four classifications.

Under the original price schedule, Vitamin A-bearing oils containing less than 6,000 units were not covered by the regulation; those containing more than 6,000 units, but less than 60,000 had a maximum price of 14 cents per million units; those containing more than 60,000, but less than 200,000 units had a maximum price of 20 cents per million units; and those containing 200,000 or more units, and all Vitamin A concentrates, had a maximum price of 30 cents per million units.

As a result of the former schedule, "blending operations" developed, which were designed to produce oils of a potency either exempt from the regulation or commanding a higher price than would have resulted if the constituent oils had been sold unblended, OPA said. By this blending, oils of very low potency have been blended with those in the 14-cent price range so that the resulting product tests less than 6,000 units and is not covered by the regulation. Similarly, high potency oils are used to blend 14-cent oils above the required potency to get the 20-cent price, and to blend 20-cent oils upward to get the 30-cent price. As a result of these blending operations, offerings of oils of 65,000 units, for example, became relatively abundant, while needed oils of other potencies were held out for mixing. Since the 14-cent price will now apply on all Vitamin A oils with potencies of 40,000 and under, and the price on oils over that potency is staggered upward as the potency increases, the inducement for blending will be lacking and oils will be sold on the basis of their natural Vitamin A content, OPA said.

The action does not apply to oils sold for incorporation into animal and poultry feeds. They continue to be covered by Maximum Price Regulation No. 53 (Fats and Oils).

One other slight change, pertaining to imports of Vitamin A oils, is also included in the action. As originally drawn, maximum prices were set f.o.b. seller's shipping point. Under long established custom, American buyers of foreign oil purchased the commodity with duty and certain other charges paid by the foreign seller. Investigation has revealed no reason why this practice should be changed. Accordingly, the action provides, in effect, that on imported oils the maximum prices specified in the schedule shall be f.o.b. transcontinental rail shipping point, duty and taxes paid by the seller.

The foregoing provisions were discussed with representative members of the Vitamin A industry and were generally approved by those concerned. They are included in Amendment No. 1 to MPR-203 (Vitamin A Natural Oils and Concentrates), effective January 26, 1944. cerpt follows:

1. The following new subparagraph (5) is added to § 1396.201 (b):

(5) Oils containing not more than 6,000 U. S. P. units of Vitamin A per gram and at least 400 A. O. A. C. units of Vitamin D per gram sold for use in animal or poultry feeds or feeding and so stated in writing by the buyer to the seller prior to payment. Maximum prices for these oils are established by Maximum Price Regulation No. 53.

2. Section 1396.212 (a) (2) is amended to read as follows:

(2) "Vitamin A natural oil" means any unconcentrated fish or marine animal liver oil (or mixtures thereof with other oils) containing less than 200,000 U. S. P. units of Vitamin A per gram,

with the exception of cod liver oil.

3. By striking out the last sentence of § 1396.212 (a) (3) and substituting in lieu thereof the following sentence: "Oils containing 200,000 or more U. S. P. units of Vitamin A per gram, and blends of a concentrate and an edible vegetable oil, shall be considered concentrates."

4. Section 1396.214 (a) is amended to read as follows:

The following maximum prices are established for Vitamin A natural oils and concentrates, f. o. b. seller's shipping point, except that on purchases from foreign sellers for importation by vessel into the continental United States, the following maximum prices shall be . o. b. port of entry. On all imports,

Foreign Fishery Trade

FISH OIL IMPORTS RESTRICTED

Fish and shark liver oils cannot in the future be imported without authorization in writing from the War Production Board, according to a recent revision of the WPB's regulation on imports of strategic materials. The January 8 revision of General Imports Order M-63 adds the following two fishery items to List III of the Order, effective January 12, 1944:

Fish - liver oil, n.e.s. (include halibut-liver oil) Commerce Import Class No. 2220.250.
Shark

liver oil, including oil produced from dogfish livers, n.s.p.f. - Commerce Import Class
No. 0808.730.

Both of these items are listed on Schedule A of Order M-63-a as amended January 8, and thereby are not excepted from the provisions of M-63 when they are "located in, and are the growth production, or manufacture of, and are transported into the continental United States overland, by air, or by inland waterway from Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, or El Salvador."

REORGANIZATION OF THE FISHERIES OF NEWFOUNDLAND PLANNED

A proposal for reorganizing the fisheries of Newfoundland in the post-war period was laid before the people of Newfoundland in a radio address by Hon. P.D.H. Dunn, Commissioner of Natural Resources, on January 21. The proposal was developed by the Government of Newfoundland, based on recommendations of a post-war planning committee concerned primarily with the problem of return of men from the armed forces after the war.

Mr. Dunn stated that while "present prices for salt codfish are high and provide good remuneration to those engaged in the industry whether as catchers, middlemen, or exporters," this condition may not well last for more than "three or five years." "At the end of that period it is probable that we [Newfoundland] shall have to face another collapse in the value of dried codfish." His statements are excerpted further: "The one certain thing in the economic life of Newfoundland is that the dried codfish industry is not going to provide a reasonable standard of comfort for the numbers of men who depended upon it in the past. The industry was only carried on throughout the years because the men submitted to a lowering of their living standards and became victims themselves of malnutrition, with all its attendant evils."

While agriculture has been considered by some as a cure for Newfoundland's ills, Mr. Dunn stated, "It has not been appreciated that the development of quick-freezing has profoundly affected fish processing and distribution and has introduced a new factor which invalidates many conclusions previously reached. The truth is that the economic salvation of Newfoundland lies in a wise development of both the fisheries and agriculture."

The reconstruction policy advocated by the Government will adapt the industry under Government supervision to the best available markets. It is proposed to eliminate all unnecessary costs and increase the production per man to the maximum. The salt codfish industry

is to be continued, but a new industry will be created "around it so that we can revitalise the whole of our economic life." The new industry "must be based on a production of frozen fish, coupled with the fullest possible utilisation of the great wealth which nature has placed in the seas around our coasts. We must get away from the idea that fish means only cod; we must go after the other species which in a fresh, frozen, or processed state command a higher price than cod; and we must use every modern means in preparing these varieties of fish for markets." In view of the character of the resources, the most probable enlargement of the fisheries will occur through a moderate development of trawling.

The Government considers that fish-processing plants should be constructed at about 15 centers, with the collection of fish facilitated by construction of short roads at various parts of the coast and use of fast transporting vessels. At each center, fishing operations would be carried on with a view to the production of frozen fish as the main product, with facilities erected for filleting, quick-freezing, and cold-storage. Fish meal and oil plants, and possibly canning factories would be added. Surplus catches would be converted into dried salt fish. To insure the continuity of supplies, vessels of the dragger type would have to be provided. Arrangements are being made to secure plans and specifications for the most successful types of draggers.

As herring is one of Newfoundland's abundant species, the Government considers it necessary for the fishing industry to acquire sufficient knowledge of herring movements so that the shoals can be followed and catching arrangements made in advance. Investigation of the movements and habits of the herring in the Gulf of St. Lawrence area has been arranged.

The reorganization plan is to be essentially one for private enterprise, but the Government "proposes that steps should be taken to regulate it from the beginning." To this end "an act, giving the necessary powers for controlling the processing of fish other than dried salt codfish, is being prepared and will be published for comment. This act will require that premises for processing fish will have to be approved by the [Newfoundland] Fisheries Board and that no person may engage in the processing of fish other than the production of dried salt-fish without a licence. It is not intended to create monopolies, but it is the intention that indiscriminate and wasteful disposition of plants should be avoided wherever possible."

"The

Finances will be secured from private capital to the greatest degree possible. Government will be prepared to lend money to carefully selected operators with adequate resources who are able and willing to engage in the fisheries." It will "make loans for a term secured by mortgage on plant and premises and bearing interest at 3 percent per annum.' In addition, "the Government is prepared, over a period subject to results being encouraging, to invest up to a total of four million dollars in the reorganisation." The entire development may cost from 10 to 15 million dollars. It is intended that the capital employed should be in Newfoundland hands.

TURTLE INDUSTRY, CAYMAN ISLANDS, JAMAICA, B. W. I.

Turtle fishing is one of the principal economic activities of the Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman), three small dependencies of Jamaica, British West Indies, according to the January 22 issue of the Foreign Commerce Weekly.

For generations, inhabitants of the Cayman Islands have caught green turtles and hawksbill turtles on the mosquito coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua. The green turtles are brought back alive to Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac, where they are usually held for several days in a kraal and then sent by schooner to Tampa or Key West and thence to New York by truck.

Green turtles are used exclusively for meat and soup, and hawksbill turtles for the omamental shell. The turtles are caught by crews of sailing schooners, which before the war, numbered about 15. The schooner owner supplies all the gear and tackle and takes 50 percent of the gross cash, after payment of 50 cents per head to the Central American Governments as customs duty. There are about three turtle-catching trips a year, each trip usually lasting for several months.

The Cayman Islands continued to export almost as many green turtles during 1939, 1940, and 1941, as they did in the three preceding years, or 2,700, 3,700, and 2,624, respectively.

Prices fell for a time during the early part of the war, but have now risen sufficiently to make the industry more profitable to the ship-owners.

Turtle-shell exports in 1942 approximated the pre-war average. In general, green turtles are sold in the United States and turtle shell to British purchasers.

YEAR'S PURCHASES OF FISHERY PRODUCTS BY FDA VALUED AT $70,867,808

With December purchases of $5,612,634 worth of fishery products, the total value of these transactions for the year was $70,867,808, according to the Department of Agriculture. The bulk, or about 84 percent, of the value of the 1943 purchases was canned fishery products; cured fish accounted for 6 percent; byproducts, 4 percent; and vitamin-bearing fishliver oils made up the remaining 6 percent of the total for the year.

The all-commodity index of wholesale prices was 102.9 percent of the 1926 average on December 18, 1943, according to information furnished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices of canned and cured fish in the wholesale markets have remained quite constant throughout the year, due to rigid price controls over these items. The Bureau's retail index for all foods on December 14 was down 0.1 percent from a month earlier, primarily due to a 5 percent drop in egg prices. Retail prices of fresh and canned fish were 22.9 percent higher than one year earlier.

A 60-page publication, Tluctuations in Abundance of Red Salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka (Walbaum) of the Karluk River, Alaska," Fishery Bulletin No. 39, by Joseph T. Barnaby, was recently published by the Fish and Wildlife Service. This bulletin is available from the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., for 20 cents. An abstract of this publication follows:

Karluk River red salmon migrate to the ocean in their first to their fifth year. The majority migrate during their third or fourth year. They mature, and return to fresh water to spawn in their third to eighth year. The 5-year age group is dominant, with the 6-year age group next in importance. In the period from 1921 to 1936, the spawning escapements have fluctuated from 400,000 to 2,533,402 with an average escapement of 1,113,594. The fluctuations in the ratio of return to escapement have been considerable, and no correlation has been found to exist between escapement and return.

Certain adverse environmental conditions in the lake and tributary streams appear
to have a deleterious effect upon the young red salmon. Insuffient amounts of phos-
phorus and silica present in the lake waters is one such condition. This shortage of
essential chemicals indirectly affects the production of zooplankton of the lake, and
thus appears to indirectly affect the growth and survival of young salmon which depend
upon zooplankton for food. A marked change is occurring in the percentage of fish of
a given fresh-water history in the escapement, in relation to the percentage of fish
of the same fresh-water history in the return. A higher percentage of fish spend 3
years in fresh water in the escapement than in the return, and a higher percentage
of fish spend 4 years in fresh water in the return than in the escapement. Unless
this relationship changes, the majority of salmon in the Karluk River runs will be
fish that have spent 4 years in fresh water, whereas, formerly the dominant age group
was composed of fish that had spent 3 years in fresh water.

Seaward migration takes place during the last week of May and the first 2 weeks in June. The percentage of 4-year fingerlings decreased, and the percentage of 3year fingerlings increased during the period of migration. Growth rate affects the time of migration, as the fastest growing individuals migrate first. Marking experiments at Karluk River have shown the amputation of the adipose and right, left, or both ventral fins to be better methods of marking than those which included the pectoral fins. The fresh-water mortality of Karluk River red salmon was found to be in excess of 99 percent. The average ocean mortality was 79 percent. The older and larger 4-year seaward migrants experienced a lower ocean mortality than the 3-year migrants; the average mortality of the former was 76 percent as compared to 83 percent for the younger age-group. Returns from marking experiments on the red salmon of Karluk River have been consistently greater than returns from similar experiments in other areas.

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