In the Prince William Sound area, from June 24 to October 15, a total of 200,000 barrels of herring may be taken--an increase of 125,000 barrels over 1943.

The quota for southeastern Alaska has been doubled-200,000 barrels may be taken during the open season from June 15 to October 15. In addition, 2,000 barrels of herring may be taken for food in southeastern Alaska in each calendar month from October 16 of one year to June 14 of the following year. This provision will be effective beginning October 16, 1944.

As in previous years, the new regulations will be published in codified form and simplified interpretations will be made available in the affected districts.

FISH LOCATED WITH SOUNDING DEVICES

Arrangements are now being made between the Office of the Coordinator of Fisheries and the Navy for a full-scale test of echo-sounding devices on surface vessels as a means of locating schools of fish, Coordinator Harold L. Ickes announced March 9. The tests will be made first in waters off California as soon as certain security regulations can be complied with.

The echo-sounding devices now a part of the equipment of Navy patrol vessels are believed to be the finest in the world, infinitely superior to those in use just before the Tests of such devices in locating schools of herring were begun by the British in the North Sea just prior to the war. Similar tests made in waters off British Columbia during the past fall gave promising results. The series of tests planned for the West Coast will be the first experiment of this type in American waters.

Echo-sounding equipment has been of great value to vessels engaged in fishing for species - known as "bottom fish" by permitting exploration of the floor of the ocean, thus protecting nets from rocks and locating undersea valleys where some bottom fish congregate. With sensitive equipment and trained operators it is believed possible not only to locate schools of fish but to determine the size and direction of the schools. As soon as arrangements have been completed, representatives of the Fish and Wildlife Service will be allowed to make tests aboard the Navy's patrol vessels during their routine operations.

Already experiments have been made in sighting schools of fish from Naval patrol blimps. Sighting from the air is, however, effective during only about three hours of the day since at other times reflections make sighting of fish unlikely. This method is also ineffective when the water is rough. On the other hand, echo-sounders can operate 24 hours a day in all weather.

The chief purpose of the experiments is to aid fishermen in catching pilchards, or California sardines. Traditionally the pilchard, as is the case with some other schooling fishes, is caught during the dark of the moon. This is due to the fact that the fish disturb the minute organisms in surface waters, causing them to phosphoresce, thereby revealing the presence of the fish to the fishermen. Due to this method of locating fish, fishing for such species as the pilchard is conducted only about half of each month. The new method, if it works out, would make it possible to fish in daylight as well as at night. Continuous fishing for pilchards would probably mean a large production as well as better utilization of canning and processing equipment. Tests on other schooling fish also are planned.

SPECIAL RATION POINTS PROVIDED FOR FISHERMEN

Provision has been made for commercial fishermen and for persons employed on inland water carriers to receive an allowance of ration points for all rationed foods on the basis of four meals per day, the OPA said March 19.

The allowance may be secured by applying to the local War Price and Rationing Board, using a simple form provided for that purpose. Both canned fruits and vegetables and meats are included, the allowance being seven-tenths of a point per meal per person for processed foods and one point per meal per person for meats-fats. If baking is done aboard the carrier, the allowance for meats-fats is 1.1 point per meal.

It is recognized that the commercial fishing industry and inland water transportation are directly connected with the war effort, OPA said in announcing the point allowance on a four meals per day basis.

Information received by OPA indicates that men on board ships, boats, tugs, and barges engaged in commercial fishing or commerce customarily eat the equivalent of one meal every six hours.

In determining the amount of rationed food for institutional users who feed employees on ships, boats, tugs, and barges, it is necessary to report the number of men to be fed, the number of days the carrier will be in operation, and information on proposed baking during the period for which application is made.

Amdt. 52 to General Ration Order 5--Food Rationing for Institutional Users-became effective March 23, 1944. Excerpts follow:

1. A new section 7.9 is added to read as follows:

SEC. 7.9 Allotments for Group IV users who feed employees on board ships, boats, tugs and barges. (a) Beginning with the March-April 1944 allotment period, Group IV establishments on board ships, boats, tugs and barges will be granted allotments of rationed food for those establishments on the basis of the number of persons to be fed there and the number of days the vessel will be in operation during the allotment period.

(c) Such users are not required to furnish the information called for by OPA Form R-1307 Supplement. Application for allotments for those establishments shall be made to the Board on OPA Form R-315 (instead of on OPA Form R-1309 (Revised)). The application must state:

(1) The name and address of the applicant and the name of the vessel where the persons covered by the application will be fed;

(2) The number of days he expects to operate the establishment during the allotment period (partial days of operation shall not be counted as full days, but one-quarter of a day shall be counted for each six hours or fraction thereof of operation);

(3) The number of persons he expects to feed on each day of operation, counting each person fed only once per day; and

(4) The percentage (by number) of bread, rolls, doughnuts and crullers, pies, cakes and pastries to be served during the period that the applicant himself will bake;

(5) On his application for allotments for the May-June 1944 Allotment period

and subsequent periods, the application must also state the number of days he operated the establishment and the number of persons he fed each day during the preceding allotment period.

(d) The allotment of each rationed food shall be computed in the following way:

(1) Take the total number of meals to be served during the allotment period (that number is to be figured on the basis of four meals per person for each day he is fed; for partial days of operation, one meal is to be figured for each six hours or fraction thereof of operation);

(2) Multiply that total by the allowance per person for that food as fixed in the supplement (using the regular or the baking allowance, depending on the applicant's baking percentage);

(3) The result is the allotment for the period.

OPA SETS USED BARREL PRICES

Ceiling prices for sales of used tight wooden barrels by emptiers or dumpers--which up to now have been exempt from price control--were announced March 28 by the Office of Price Administration. The prices, included in Maximum Price Regulation 524, became effective April 1, 1944. Dollars-and-cents ceilings also are established at other levels of distribution besides the emptiers' or dumpers' level--for peddlers who collect barrels from emptiers and sell them to dealers, and for dealers who sell used barrels principally on a "selected and sound" or on a reconditioned basis to re-users.

The new maximum prices per barrel, f.o.b. conveyance, for representative types of used tight barrels are as follows:

Ceilings also are established for reconditioning services performed on used barrels by

a dealer for an owner of used barrels. Also established are ceiling prices for used staves, heads, hoops and extras and other cooperage stock.

SALES BY MARINE PROVISIONERS PLACED UNDER MPR-421

Sales by marine provisioners, persons who supply food products for the provisioning of boats and ships, were brought under the regulation governing ceiling prices of dry groceries sold by wholesalers, by the Office of Price Administration, in Amdt. 7 to Maximum Price Regulation No. 421, effective March 13, 1944.

Under earlier regulations, marine provisioners could not, without hardship, use the maximum prices established for other wholesalers because of unusually high operating costs, including maintenance of power launches, toll bridge charges and expense of a 24-hour-a-day working force for loading provisions. They were therefore excluded from the regulation by amendment and have been operating under the General Maximum Price Regulation-with the individual seller's price "frozen" at his March 1942 "high"-for practically all of the dry groceries sold by them.

However, the present regulation covering most dry grocery sales by wholesalers includes a separate classification for institutional wholesalers, and marine provisioners are now being included in that classification. This, it is believed, will give them needed relief by furnishing mark-ups more nearly in line with those customary in the industry in normal times.

Institutional wholesalers' maximum prices for the commodities covered by the regulation may now be used for regular sales by marine provisioners to ship operators and boat and steamship companies. In cases of sales to retailers, however, marine provisioners must figure their maximum prices either as Class 2 (cash-and-carry) wholesalers or as Class 3 (service) wholesalers, depending upon whether the sales are being made with or without delivery.

$13.25 A POUND PAID FOR SPONGES

The average price of sponges sold on the Tarpon Springs, Florida, Exchange in 1943 was $13.25 a pound, believed to be the highest price for which sponges have ever sold, the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior reported March 4. Total value of sponges sold at the exchange was $2,305,078, a record figure, although the number of sponges sold reached a new low.

Sponges are sold by the bunch, the bunches varying from a pound and a half to about ten pounds. Last year 41,773 such bunches were sold; the total weight being about 175,000 pounds. In 1940, the average price per pound of the sponges sold on the Tarpon Springs Exchange was $3.65. That year 56,491 bunches weighing a total of about 232,000 pounds were sold.

Current U.S. sponge production is low due to a blight which began in 1939 and destroyed vast beds of the animals and because of the effect of war conditions on the fishery. While the sponge is most familiar for its household uses, industrial uses are of considerably greater importance. Thought by many to be of vegetable origin, the sponge as marketed is the skeleton of one of the most primitive of animals.

Sectional Marketing Reviews

FISHERIES OF WASHINGTON AND OREGON

Considerable quantities of herring from Puget Sound waters reached Seattle markets in March, the Service's representatives in the northwest Pacific area reported. During the early part of the month the market suffered from a continued shortage of Columbia River smelt, soupfin shark, and lingcod. A number of shark fishing vessels were reported changing to line fishing or being overhauled for halibut operations. In the third week of the month, herring appeared in Puget Sound for the first time this year. Some 60,000 pounds were received at Seattle that week and in the fourth week, the receipts of this species accounted for one-half of the entire arrivals of fresh fish. Lingcod receipts increased during the third week, doubling those of the previous week. Unfavorable weather off the coast hampered some operations early in the month, while generally unfavorable weather and lay-off of vessels for seasonal repairs reduced the receipts during the last week of March.

Fresh Fish Trade

FEBRUARY LANDINGS AT THREE PORTS GREATER THAN IN 1943

Fishing vessels delivering their catches to the ports of Boston and Gloucester, Mass., and Portland, Me., during February landed a total of 16,170,527 pounds of fishery products, valued at $1,217,704 to the fishermen, according to the Service's Current Fishery Statistics No. 120. This was an increase of 60 percent in amount landed and 79 percent in value received by the fishermen as compared with January 1944. Compared with February 1943, it was an increase of 5 percent in volume, but a decrease of 16 percent in value. The decline in value was due to price ceilings which have been applied since February 1943.

Considering the landings by ports, 9,792,192 pounds, valued at $842,208, were landed at Boston; 5,545,781 pounds, valued at $333,344, at Gloucester; and 832,554 pounds, valued at $42,152, at Portland.

During the month, 158 vessels made 460 trips to the fishing grounds. with 156 vessels which made 447 trips during February 1943.

This compares

The over-all weighted average price per pound received by the fishermen for their catch during February was 7.53 cents as compared with 6.73 cents during January and 9.44 during February 1943.

Total landings at the three ports for the first two months of 1944 amounted to 26,268,287 pounds, valued at $1,897,155. This was a decline of more than 3 million pounds as compared with the similar period of 1943.

Item

Cod
Haddock
Hake
Pollock

Cusk

Halibut

Mackerel

Flounders:
Gray sole
Lemon sole
Yellowtail
Blackback

Dab

Other

Rosefish

Whiting

Landings by Fishing Vessels at Boston and Gloucester, Mass., and Portland, Maine

Wolffish

37.328 7.49

10,302 7.68

22,668 10.08

47,630 7.53

30,093 9.78

12,230 4.66

79,496 4.30

12,230 4.66

Scallops (meats)

38,500 37.99

31,407 35.00

7,237 61.70

69,907 36.65

38,369 53.89

Other

82.984

79,927

22,870

Landings of fishery products during February at New Bedford, Mass., totaled 4,638,731 pounds, valued to the fishermen at $421,374, according to data published in Current Fishery Statistics No. 115 by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This was an increase of 8 percent in amount landed and 27 percent in value to the fishermen as compared with January.

Compared with February 1943 when 3,227,872 pounds, valued at $361,926, were landed, it was an increase of 44 percent in volume and 16 percent in value.

The

During the month, 132 craft made 318 trips to the fishing grounds. The over-all weighted average price per pound received by the fishermen for their catch during February was 9.08 cents as compared with 7.76 cents during January and 11.21 cents during February 1943. principal items landed during February were yellowtail and eelpout, which accounted for 79 percent of the total.

Total landings for the first two months of 1944 amounted to 8,925,495 pounds, valued at $753,907 to the fishermen. Compared with the same period of 1943, this was an increase of 24 percent in volume, but a decrease of 5 percent in value. The total weighted average value for the first two months of the current year was considerably lower than that of 1943, averaging 8.45 cents per pound as compared with 11.00 cents during the similar period of 1943. This resulted from the application of price ceilings.

FEBRUARY RECEIPTS IN NEW YORK SALT-WATER MARKET 22 PERCENT GREATER THAN IN 1943

Receipts of fresh and frozen fishery products in the salt-water market in February increased 3 percent compared with January and 22 percent compared with February 1943, according to the New York Market News office.

An increase of 206 percent in haddock receipts in February followed reduced fishing activity in January at various ports due to the vessel tie-up. At New York, there were only 9,000 pounds of haddock landed by 6 vessels during January as compared with 149,000 pounds landed by 11 vessels during February. Sea bass receipts were much higher than during January and approximately 20 percent of the total went into cold storage.

Following the opening of fishing in Florida, mullet receipts increased greatly, surpassing the receipts of February 1943 by 86 percent. Spanish mackerel receipts were the same as in January, but were 217 percent greater than in February 1943. The market for this item and king mackerel was generally sluggish during the first two weeks, but strengthened and reached its peak the third week. While it weakened toward the end of the month, it did not go as low as during the first two weeks.

Yellowtail receipts comprised 13 percent of the total for February, but they were considerably below January. Both landings at New York and overland receipts decreased in February.