Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-07-13
FASHIONS IN FISH
By Frederic ]. Haskin

TINE recent rumor that sharks are
being sold in the New York fish
- markets under the name of
swordfish has created great deal of
alarm among fish-eaters. OF course,
there is no particular reason why peo-
pie should not eat sharks, since the
meat is as good as that of other fish
and therefore is never recognized when
served under a different name on the
menu. Besides, the shark has always
shown a polite desire to eat us, which
deserves the reward of like apprecia-
ton. But in the matter of food we
Americans are a conservative people;
we have certain preconceived ideas
about our diet which remains practic-
ally the same in spite of the ceaseless
endeavors on the part of scientists to
introduce curious foreign vegetables,
new teas and species of marine fish in
to the market.
One radical innovation was success
fully instituted after many years of
persuasion by the Bureau of Fisher
les, and this was the adoption of the
American tile fish as permanent ad-
dition to the fish menu. From this
first experience, the Bureau has learn
ed to be cautious, and now should it
recommend the marketing of sharks
and dogfish to fishermen it would rec
ommend the wisdom of irreproachable
names. 1t is to be noted, however,
that our foreign population is not so
fastidious. To them the rumors that
meat is getting scarce have long ap-
peared as facts, and goldfish and cat
fish are considered very desirable
substitutes.
Not only does the popularity of a
certain species of fish depend upon
the custom of the country-according
to what our ancestors ate-but it va
ries with different sections of the coun-
try. The founder, for example, is
highly priced in some fish markets
and absolutely rejected by others; and
; the same is true Of the catfish. More
over, on the Atlantic Coast no fish is
valued quite so highly as the shad.
After some trouble, the Bureau of
Fisheries succeeded in introducing
the shad into the waters of the Pacific
Coast, ana then people would not eat
| II because 1t had too many bones. Now
this fish is becoming extremely scarce
on the Atlantic Coast, the Hudson, the
Connecticut and the Merrimac rivers,
which were formerly prolific sources,
yielding none whatever, and the Della
ware and the Potomac showing great
reductions Already great quantities
are being received annually by way of
refrigerator cars from the Pacific
Coast and it is estimated by experts
that 1t will not be many years before
this will be the entire source of the
supply.
Halibut is another fish which has
been almost completely wiped out on
the Atlantic Coast, yet is in great de-
mand because of it's long established
popularity. The main supply of hall
but now comes from British Columbia
and Alaska, and also from Washing
ton and Oregon where large numbers
have recently been discovered. Yet
every year hundreds of edible fish
known as sea robins are recovered in
the hauls of the Atlantic Coast fish
ermen and thrown back or destroyed
because unfortunately it is not the
custom to eat them. On the Pacific
Coast the same thing is done with the
so-called black cod, which is not a
cod at all, great numbers being thrown
away annually for the reason that
there is no market for them. The