COORDINATOR'S OFFICE DISCUSSES 1944 FISH PRODUCTION

Representatives of the U. S. fishing industry met in Washington, February 2 and 3, with officials of the Office of the Coordinator of Fisheries and the Service's Division of Fishery Industries to confer on wartime production problems of the fisheries and to lay down a program of operation for 1944. This was the second annual conference held to discuss means of increasing the production of fishery products. It was attended by representatives of the industry of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific Coasts and the Great Lakes Area, some 20 field representatives of the Office of the Coordinator of Fisheries and key officials of the Coordinator's Washington office.

Representatives of the fishing industry invited to attend were:

Following a procedure established in 1943, the representatives drew up an estimate of fishery production for 1944, basing their predictions on the most reliable indexes available. As in 1943, recognition was taken of natural, sociological, mechanical, and economic factors that can directly and indirectly affect production. Past records form the most reliable guide to fishery production and, with manpower conditions predicted as increasingly severe for 1944--with little improvement in other factors, the catches for 1942 and 1943 were used to form a base from which probable change was forecast. Total production for 1943 and 1944, compared with U. S. requirements compiled by the War Food Administration, is presented in Table I, accompanied by the most important increases and decreases from 1942 totals which occurred in 1943.

Table I--Production of the Fisheries of the United States and Alaska in 1943 and 1944
In thousands of pounds; that is, 000 omitted)

Production required in 1943 to meet WFA requirements

OCF estimated 1943 production, with facilities available March 1, 1943
Preliminary estimate of 1943 catch

Production required in 1944 to meet WFA requirements

OCF estimated 1944 production

5,000,000+

3,810,000

4,000,000

5,300,000

4,250,000

+48,000 +28,000 + 6,000

Menhaden

Pilchard

+ 24,000

Tuna

+ 9,000

Gloucester landings

+ 12,000

New Bedford landings

+ 4,000

Maine landings (except herring)

+ 3,000

Seattle receipts

+ 5,000

The estimated increase of 250 million pounds in 1944 over the 1943 catch was calculated chiefly on the basis of the following factors: More vessels for New England; no vessel tieups; increase in number of menhaden vessels; increase in number of shrimp vessels; opening of the herring fishery in Southeastern Alaska; and more vessels in major fisheries on the Pacific Coast (groundfish, pilchard, and tuna vessels).

Item

Table II--1944 U.S. Requirements for Fishery Products Compared to Estimated Production

Canned

Requirements
858

Deficit

An estimate of 1944 production of fishery products was prepared to compare with a statement of U. S. requirements for such items formulated by the WFA (see Table II) and to show the anticipated production by area, Table III was prepared by the conferees.

The Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana in the test case of Ludwig Doucet vs. The Texas Company, et al, has upheld the property right of lessees of public beds in the oysters on those beds and has protected the rights of such lessees against pollution of the waters covering those beds by others incident to industrial operations also under State lease. The Doucet case has been before the courts of Louisiana for more than ten years and at the time of its appeal to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, the record comprised 19 volumes, consisting of 4,577 pages. The lower court originally decided in favor of the Texas Company and this decision was reversed in the Supreme Court order.

First filed in 1933, the suit was for $10,650 damages which Doucet charged was the value of oysters killed during the 1932-33 season as the result of the company's pollution of the waters in Lake Pelto, where his leased oyster beds lay, and surrounding bodies of water--Terrebone Bay, Lake Barre, Timbalier Bay, and Bay Sainte Elaine--by its negligence in discharging into these waters during the course of its oil operations in Lake Barre and Lake Pelto large quantities of oil, waste, refuse, salt water waste, and poisonous gases.

The Supreme Court held, after an extensive consideration of testimony, that a soluble fraction of the oil, such as polluted the waters in question, would deleteriously affect the oysters' ability to take in food; that in some concentrations the oysters were found unable to feed at all; and that the death of the oysters in this case was due to starvation because of the pollution.

The court in this decision by Justice Fournet also held that it was never the intention of the Louisiana legislature to "give to the mineral lessees the right to operate or conduct their operations in such a manner as to pollute the waters over these beds and bottoms in utter disregard of the rights of the oyster lessees."

WMC OUTLINES BASIS FOR ALLOCATING LABOR

A revised list of essential activities was released February 25 by the War Manpower Commission. All changes up to and including January 15, 1944, were included. Announcement of changes have been made from time to time but this is the first complete list published since December 1942. The list serves as a general guide upon which manpower programs for allocating labor to the different needs are based. It is primarily designed for the use of the United States Employment Service and the Selective Service System. The employment stabilization programs of WMC set forth the conditions under which workers may transfer from job to job, the conditions varying in accordance with whether or not the worker has been or is currently employed in an essential activity. The list is used by USES offices in determining the essentiality of the worker's employment, and Selective Service Boards use the list in reviewing requests for occupational deferment.

The criteria followed in determining whether or not an activity is to be included in the List of Essential Activities are prescribed in WMC Directive No. 1. These criteria are as follows:

1. Activities directly engaged in the production of war materials such as ships, aircraft,
guns, etc.;

2. Activities necessary for the maintenance of the production of war materials included in
No. 1 above such as mining, communication, transportation; or

3. Activities essential for the maintenance of national safety, health, and interest, such
as medical, nursing, and welfare services.

The collateral tests taken into account after it has been decided that an activity meets one or more of the above criteria are:

1. Are the facilities and resources for maintaining the production of the item under con-
sideration adequate to meet minimum wartime needs?

2. If the facilities and resources are adequate and urgent war needs are not being met,
could such needs be met through the establishment of production and distribution
controls?

3. If the facilities and resources are inadequate, is the shortage of manpower one of the
factors that limit the production?

The list of activities constitutes those that have been declared essential on the basis of the above criteria. The list consists of 35 broad categories. The specific references made to the products, services, and facilities are only generally descriptive of the types of activities regarded as essential, Category No. 5 in the List of Essential Activities is Agriculture and Commercial Fishing, while No. 6, Processing of Food, includes production of fish, prepared feeds for animals and fowls, fats and oils, dried, preserved, dehydrated, frozen, canned, and other special-processed foods. Commercial fishing includes fish hatcheries (conservation or commercial) and sponges: Gathering, bleaching, cutting, and trimming.

FOOD RATIONING FOR FISHING VESSELS REVISED BY OPA

A new allotment plan for rationing foods to institutional users was instituted effective March 1, 1944. The various changes were announced on February 15, in Amendment 46 to General Ration Order 5. Fishing craft, formerly Group III institutional users, were put in a new Group IV which comprises all institutional establishments operated by an employer or by his employees principally for the purpose of feeding these employees in connection with their work.

The plan, designed to accomplish a more equitable distribution of food to commercial eating places, primarily involves a change in the way in which these places will report their count on "the number of persons served." Heretofore, an institutional user included in this count all persons to whom either "food" or "refreshments" were served, both for the "base period" in December 1942, and for each current allotment period. Beginning January 1, these two groups will be counted separately.

For the purpose of separating the two groups, "refreshments" are defined to include all items commonly known as such. It includes, but is not limited to, all beverages such as alcoholic and carbonated beverages; fruit and vegetable juices; soft drinks such as orangeade and lemonade; milk and milk drinks such as malted milk, milk shakes and chocolate floats; tea, cocoa, coffee, coffee substitutes, hot chocolate; and ice cream sodas. The term also includes items such as ice cream dishes of all kinds, ice cream cones, sherbets, snowballs, popcorn, potato chips, peanuts, candy and pretzels. All other types of foods are counted as "food served," including, for example, a sandwich, a bowl of soup, eggs, a dish of cereal, a piece of pie, and other single dishes, as well as all regular meals.

The new basis for granting food allotments will be figured by the local War Price and Rationing Board with which the fishermen or the respective corporation is registered. In order to make it possible for boards to comply with the regulations the registrants are asked to supply the boards with the following information:

(a) "Form R-1307 Supplement" which is an amendment to R-1307, the original registration, to be filed between March 1 and March 15, 1944. It contains a breakdown of the December 1942 figures according to the new definitions of services of "refreshments" only, and of "food." For the completion of this form OPA will accept an estimate of the figure where records are not available. To prevent any disadvantage to the fishermen it should be emphasized that the "total number of persons served" means the actual number of servings of food, i.e., a meal or sandwich. For example, if three persons on a fishing boat each gets five meals, the total number of persons served "food" is 15 a day or 450 a month of 30 days. In the same way, if ten men are on a boat and each man drinks six cups of coffee between meals a day, the number of persons served "refreshments" is 60 per day or 1800 per month. The "Form R-1307 Supplement" must be completed under all circumstances.

If the local board is not able to calculate the new allotments in time for fishing vessels to receive their rationed food allotment for March and April, OPA has stated that the local board can allot the same quantity as received for the allotment period of January and February. However, all fishing vessels must have filed "Form R-1307 Supplement" with the local board before they can receive their food allotment, based either on the old calculation or on the new.

(b) Form R-1309 has to be completed for each allotment period which is for two months. Beginning March 1, 1944, in place of the card, Form R-1309, formerly filed, "Form R-1309 revised" will be used. For the questions referring to the number of persons, the same interpretation has to be applied as shown above under (a). "Form R-1309 revised" is comparatively simple. It contains 18 blanks of which only 12 have to be filled in by fishermen.

For both forms, namely, "R-1307 Supplement" and "R-1309 revised," the blanks which provide for figures on "gross dollar revenue" for food services, do not have to be filled in by fishermen because they do not usually pay for food services.

A special feature of the new allotment plan is that it provides that a certain class of "heavy workers" will be granted special allotments of rationed foods to meet the nutritional needs of these workers. At present a study is being made by the War Food Administration of the food requirements of fishermen to determine how much additional allotment they should

have. It seems quite certain that fishermen will receive special consideration. The QPA may possibly later require a log book or statement showing the number of days spent fishing.

EXTRA PERIOD ALLOWED BY OPA FOR COMPUTING INSTITUTIONAL ALLOTMENTS

Local ration boards that have not had time to compute new allotments for an institutional user by March 15, for his March-April allotment period, may issue him a certificate in an amount equal to his January-February allotment instead, the Office of Price Administration announced February 25. This will give both ration boards and institutional users a little extra time to adjust to the recently announced plan for computing allotments separately for services of food and services of refreshments.

New allotments are based in part on information which institutional users supplied their boards on OPA Form R-1307 Supplement on February 1. However, some boards will be unable to finish computing new allotments by March 15, and permission to issue an "interim" ration certificate will make it possible for an institutional user to operate while his new allotments are being computed.

If the certificate issued him is in excess of the amount that he should have been allowed for March and April, une difference will be deducted from his subsequent allotment.

In providing this time adjustment, OPA points out that boards cannot compute new allotments if the new registration form (OPA R-1307 Supplement) was not filed on February 1 as scheduled. Neither can boards figure allotments until they have received the regular application for the current allotment period (Form 1309 revised). Deadline for the latter is now set for April 1.

Amendment 47 to General Ration Order 5 became effective February 29, 1944.

OPA LISTS REPORTS REQUIRED FROM PROCESSED FOOD HANDLERS

A complete list of the reports, records, and registrations required of persons dealing in processed foods was published in a new section of Revised Ration Order 13, the Office of Price Administration announced February 24.

This list, issued for the convenience of the trade, is published in two parts. The first part summarizes the records that wholesalers, retailers, processors, industrial users, and certain consumers must keep of their inventories, transfers, and use of processed foods. The second part tells who must register under the processed foods order, and what reports such registrants must make to the Office of Price Administration. Amdt. 10 to Revised Ration Order 13, effective February 29, 1944.