CHICAGO WHOLESALE MARKET RECEIPTS INCREASE IN FEBRUARY

Receipts of fresh and frozen fishery products on the Chicago Wholesale Market increased 22 percent during February as compared with the previous month and 14 percent as compared with the same month one year earlier, according to the Service's Fishery Market News office in that city. Frozen halibut was the high item for the month. A total of 805,000 pounds was received, 6 percent below January 1943 and 19 percent less than in February 1942. The increases in receipts of whitefish and yellow pike were credited mainly to larger importations of these items from the Canadian Provinces. Arrivals of carp, mostly from Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota, were 93 percent above the same month a year ago. As a result of the campaign to popularize this species, its use has been increasing in the Chicago area during most of the past year.

JANUARY PRODUCTION IN GULF AREA DECLINES SHARPLY FROM YEAR AGO

Receipts of all important fishery products at the major ports in the Gulf States during January declined sharply from those of the same month a year earlier, according to the Service's Fishery Market News office at New Orleans. With the exception of oysters, production for the month was also considerably below that of December 1942. Closing of certain fishery areas for use as gunnery ranges has had some effect on the total production, but according to reports from producing areas, the most important factor affecting both production and processing, is the shortage of manpower.

SEATTLE RECEIPTS IN JANUARY 47 PERCENT ABOVE ONE YEAR AGO

Receipts of fresh and frozen fishery products in Seattle during January amounted to 4,076,000 pounds, a gain of 4 percent over the previous month and 47 percent over January a year ago, according to the Service's local Fishery Market News office. Large receipts of frozen halibut accounted for a high percentage of the total. Landings of 271,000 pounds of dressed soupfin shark-- eviscerated with heads and fins off--also aided in increasing the total as this poundage far exceeded that landed during all of 1942.

Domestic holdings of fishery products on February 1, 1943, totaled 74,714,000 pounds, a decrease of 24 percent compared with stocks on January 1, according to data furnished by 'the Food Distribution Administration of the Department of Agriculture. Because of the change in date for reporting stocks of frozen fishery products from the 15th to the first of the month, it is not possible to make an exact comparison of the February 1 holdings with those for the same date last year. However, it is estimated that the February 1 stocks were about 17,000,000 pounds less than those held on this date on 1942.

Of the total holdings, salt-water species accounted for 58.9 million pounds; freshwater species, 10 million pounds; and shellfish, 5.8 million pounds. Compared with the holdings on January 1, 1943, stocks of salt-water species were down 25 percent; fresh-water varieties, 22 percent; and shellfish, 20 percent.

Considering the holdings by sections, New England freezers held 14.2 million pounds; Middle Atlantic, 17.9 million pounds; North Central, 20 million pounds; Pacific, 12.9 million pounds; and South Atlantic and Gulf, 9.6 million pounds.

The five leading species in storage on February 1 accounted for 44 percent of the total holdings. These were whiting, 10,246,000 pounds; mackerel, 6,471,000 pounds; halibut, 5,618,000 pounds; salmon, 6,036,000 pounds; and shrimp, 4,416,000 pounds.

Compared with January 1, many important items exhibited marked seasonal declines. Holdings of halibut, salmon, lake herring, whitefish, shrimp, and fillets of haddock, pollock, and rosefish were considerably below stocks on February 15 a year ago, however, mackerel, mullet, sablefish, and whiting were held in much greater volume. Cured herring stocks were 58 percent below those of February 15, 1942.

Freezings of fishery products by domestic freezers during January totaled 6,741,000 pounds, according to information furnished by the Food Distribution Administration of the Department of Agriculture. It is apparent that freezings were conducted at a somewhat slower rate during January than during the last two weeks in December since in the latter period a total of 6,058,000 pounds of fish and shellfish were frozen. January freezings were about 3 percent heavier than those of the period January 15 to February 15, 1942.

The principal items frozen during the month were whiting, shrimp, and fillets of haddock and rosefish. Shrimp freezings appear to have been about 50 percent below the freezings for the same period a year ago and were 52 percent less than those of the two-week period, December 15, 1942, to January 1, 1943.

Item

Freezings of Fishery Products in United States Cold-storage Plants
December 15 January 15
to
to
January 1, February 15,

Total fish and shellfish:

January 1
to
February 1,

5-yr.average January 15 to

February 15

Pounds 6,656,000

MOST SPECIES IN BOSTON COLD-STORAGE WAREHOUSES BELOW LAST YEAR

On February 24, holdings of frozen fishery products in Boston cold-storage warehouses amounted to 4,541,000 pounds, according to the Service's local Fishery Market News office. This was a decline of 44 percent below stocks on hand January 27 and 42 percent below those of February 25, 1942. With the exception of sea herring and mackerel, there were large decreases in practically all of the important species as compared with a year earlier.

There were 1,247,912 pounds of frozen whiting held in 15 cold-storage warehouses in Maine and Massachusetts on February 27. This was a drop of 64 percent from holdings four weeks previous and 32 percent from those of one year earlier. Because of recent large withdrawals of dressed, H & G, fillets and skuljoes this classification made up only 30 percent of the total. Sixty-six percent was round whiting and 4 percent was classed as animal food.

ON FEBRUARY 25 NEW YORK HOLDINGS OF FROZEN FISH 30 PERCENT BELOW LAST YEAR

Holdings of frozen fish in New York cold-storage warehouses on February 25 amounted to 6,100,000 pounds, mackerel stocks continuing to be the high item with a total of 878,000 pounds, according to the Service's Fishery Market News office in that city. There was a decline of 20 percent below the last Thursday in January and 30 percent below February 26, 1942, in the total holdings. The decrease was partly due to a generally lower production in this section of the country and partly to greater utilization of fresh fish. The largest decline below holdings of a year earlier occurred in halibut stocks which dropped 95 percent.

CHICAGO COLD-STORAGE HOLDINGS 33 PERCENT UNDER LAST YEAR ON FEBRUARY 25

Holdings of frozen fishery products in Chicago cold-storage warehouses on February 25 were 5,349,000 pounds, or 33 percent below the 7,971,000 pounds held one year earlier, according to the Service's local Fishery Market News office. Greatest decreases from the previous year were in holdings of lake herring, lake trout, halibut, and shrimp. Stocks of blue pike and sauger, mackerel and whiting were higher than for the comparable date a year ago and with the exception of mackerel were also above the previous month.

Canadian cold-storage plants held 17,071,000 pounds of frozen fresh fish and 1,061,000 pounds of frozen smoked fish on March 1, 1943, according to preliminary data released by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. This represented a decrease of 10 percent in stocks of frozen fresh fish but an increase of 28 percent in frozen smoked fish as compared with the quantities in storage on the same date a year ago. The three main items--salmon, sea herring, and halibut--accounted for 64 percent of the total holdings. Compared with March 1 a year ago, salmon holdings were down 10 percent, and sea herring, 39 percent, while halibut stocks were 124 percent greater. All items of frozen smoked fish were held in greater volume than