St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1892-09-10
FACTS ABOUT FISH.
A REPORT ON THE MENHADEN
AND HERRING INDUSTRY.
Fecundity of the Salt Hcrring-O]ea-
ginous and Mal0dorOus Menhaden -
Value of the Oceans Oil Product.


Value of the Oceans Oil Product.
The average fishing vessel which the
average sea-coast visitor observes is prob
ably "mcnhadcn' vessel. These men
hadcn vessels, says a recent report to
congress, spend their time in taking this
particular line of fish known as the
'mcnhaden.n They are not, as the UNI
initiated observer would suppose taken
for food; they are not a food fish. They
are mostly bone and oil, and hence are
not a convenient or satisfactory article of
diet. Yet they are caught ut the rate of
about 700, 900, 900 a year, which means
about dozen for every individual in the
United States And it has not been OBJ
served that the citizens Of the United
States are particularly fond of fish oil.
Yet the menhadrn fishermen and the
manufactures for which they operate,
make between 4, 00U, 900 and 5000, 900
gallons Of fish oil, of value of nearly
1000, 600, every year and turn out, be
sides, nearly 81, 900, 900 worth of ferti-
lizcrs from the bones and refuse remaining
after the oil is taken from the fish.
Seven hundred millions seems to be a
good many fish, yet the Commissioner
calculates that this number may be taken
annually by the fishermen, a still greater
number destroyed by whales and por-
poiscs and other predatory inhabitants of
the sea, and vet the stock of mcnhadcn
not be at all diminished Whales are
often found with an enormous number of
these tiShin their stomachs. A barrel or
two of them make only Il comfortable
mouthful for whale Even the bluetish
prove very great enemies to the oily and
bony mcnllauen, and the Fish Com
missioner calculates that the blurtish
alone destroy in a year twelve hundred
million of these fish There have been
years in which the fishing vessels have
taken nearly one billion Of these fish
If the sea coast visitor desires to spec
ulate still further upon the number of in
habitants of the sea he will be interested,
perhaps, in a statement which the Fish
Commissioner makes in regard to the
number of herring taken i'll the herring
fisheries. The Senate Committee Oh
Fisheries recently called on the Fish
Commissioner for some information with
reference to this subject, and inquired
especially how the menha,lru compares
with the common herring in the matter
of reproduction, and also how lon the
herring fisheries bave been prosecuted in
Europe, the number taken. and the effect
of the numerous fishers in the European
waters u|e,o the supply of this particular
fish. The Commissioner replied that the
reproductive powers of the mcnhahcn
seem to far exceed that of the herring,
and in commenting upon the fact that
the enormous numbers of herring taken
in European waters did not seem to re-
duce the supply, said; "Thc herringtish-
cry is carried on during the spawning
season. On the coast of Norway the
herring fishery has been prosecuted
during a period Of fully 1000 years.
Since the year 1900 very good fisheries
are recorded at intervals, alternating
with periods of scarcity lasting about
s. years on the average, up to recent
times"
As to the number Of herring, it has
been estimated by Professor Huxley that
at least three billion are taken every year
out of the North Sea and the Atlantic.
The following extract from a letter of
Professor Huxley upon the herring, de-
livered at the International Fishery EX-
hibition at Norwich in 1851, will show
his estimate based upon the best data
available. ct is said that 300, 900, or
there abouts, of herring are every year
taken out of the North Sea and Atlantic.
Suppose we assume the number to be
3. 900 600 so as to be quite safe. 1t is
large number, undoubtedly, but what
does it come to- Not more than that Of
the herring which may be contained in
the shoal, if it covers halfa dozen square
miles, and shoals of much larger size are
on record. 1t is safe to say that scattered
through he North Sea and the Atlantic,
at one and the same time, there must be
scores of shoals, any one of which would
go long way toward supplying the
whole of mans consumption Of herring"
Calculating upon this basis (and there
is none better the herring fishery of
North Europe has probably yielded,
during the past four hundred years,
about twelve hundred billions of fish.
There is no evidence that the herring
has been diminished as result of the
fishery.