Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1903-10-29
REVENUE FROM SEA.
Business of Salt Water Fisheries of
Middle Atlantic States.
What tho Returns Of SIX Prd \ Cd pal
States show Regarding tho
CatcA-SOne Interesting
Particulars.
At time of year when more fish is

At a time of year when more fish is
consumed than at any other seasou
few facts concerning the industry Qf
supplying the market with that arti-
Gle Of diet are not without lnteres
The United States commissioner OF
fisheries, George A Bowers, recently
issued a report On lhe value Of the
catch for a yea along tn rnA.. Of six
states-New YorA, 4,ew Jersey, Penn
sylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Vir-
ginia. Though the scope of this sur
vey is compare lively limited, it never
theless embraces. details which will
probably be new to many readers. The
figures are those of 1901, but to a great
extent they are probably representa-
tive of other years, reports the New
York Tribune.
The largest amount of money paid
by the dealers to the fishermen is for
oysters. No less than 50, 129 1922 went
for these bivalvea, to say nothing of
$1,156, 564 for seed oysters. The
amount first mentioned is only little
over half of the total valuation Cat
wholesale rates) Of the sa 1t water fish,
cries for year CLAIMS yielded 81 ,O74,
S34, that sum being divided in the pro-
portion of about nine to one between
lard and soft she'll CLAIMS. Shad, how
ever, ranked next after oysters, hav-
ing cost the markets $1,253, 1877. Men
haden, which are converted into oil
and fertilizers, and do not find place
on the table took the fourth place in
the process sion, being credited with
$9S7.22S, while bluefish brought $759,-
152. weaktish $55S, ,2O9. crab bs (hard and
s,oft) $685. alewives (fresh and salt
ed) $262,352, white perch $154,239, eels,
1882, $50, buttertish $149, ,9S4, sea bass
$126,66 cod $119,590, founders SILL
us, and scallops $11O,537. OF course,
the amounts of certain fish (cod, for
instance) caught along the Mid1le
Atlantic coast do not correspond with
the consumption in the same region,
because large quantities are brought
from New England. Halibut, one of
the staples of the fish trade, does not
appear in Commis sioner Bowers ta bles
at all.
Inasmuch as the weights, as we'll as
the value, of each kind of fish caught
are mentioned, it is an easy matter tC
figure out the average price in every
instance. Thus menhaden sold at
one-ifth Of cent pound, alewives at
four-fifths, sea bass at cents, weak
fish at 2H, cod at 3, common mackerel
and shad at 4, bluefs hat 41a, white
bait at 7, sheepshead at s, Spanish
mackerel and scallops at g. striped
bass at nearly 10, Holsters It ~, terra
pin at 40 and shrimps at so cents
pound.
Locality has SOM ething to do with
prices, however, either because of diff
ferences in quality or differences in de-
mand. Thus, New York and New Jer-
sey shad brought only fraction over
3 cents, nd the Virginia product only
2, while that Of Delaware and Penn
sylvania commanded Al and AZ cents,
respectively Again, striped bas. from
Maryland sold for cents, and that
from New York for 13. Even more
striking inequalities are afforded by
the returns for terrapin. Those pro-
duced in Virginia averaged less than 80
cents, Maryland IS, New Jerseys a
trihe over 40 cents, and New York's
(only $40 pounds), 81. What is prac
tica lily pareallel case is found in the
figures for oysters. Virginia produced
42, ,473, ,6s3 pounds and Marylan nd 39,79S,-
927, but as the former sold for only
cents a pound and the latter for 71s,
Marylan received the more money. In
the mea ntime New York sold her 49,
3sO,921 pounds for nearly ID cents a
pound