Omaha daily bee., 1917-05-31
NeW Fish For The Table
BIZ Frederic J. Haskin

Washington, May 28.-What a great many
different species of fish need worst is a live press
agent The inland and coastal waters OF the
United States contain countless millions OF high
grade. finely favored edible fish swimming
around waiting for chance to play a star part
on the dinner table and knock out the props from
under the high cost of living They don't get a
chance because the consumer doesn't know them,
or has wrong ideas about them Fishermen throw
them back into the sea because there is no market
for them. The United States bureau OF fisheries
has taken up the task OF playing press agent for
these deserving but unknown denizens OF the deep
and is bringing their virtues and possibilities to
popular attention. There are half dozen kinds
OF fish that the bureau is working on today that
you probably never heard Of but that you will
soon be eating and saving money by so doing.
The bureau of fisheries just showed what it
could do in the case OF the humble tile-hsh The
tile-hsh was playing a very subordinate part in
the deep-sea chorus, living unknown to fame. The
bureau knew chat it was high-grade food fish,
and proceeded to bring the fact home to the
American public with as much emphasis as pos
sible. Last year over 100000 pounds OF tile
fish were eaten in this country, and this year there
will be even more. Fresh from this victory, the
bureau turns to take up the cases of the bowfn
the burbot, the grayhsh, the atkahsh and the
sablcfsh, incorrectly known as the black cod.
When you eat smoked bowin some time in
the next year or two, you will not only be eating
tasty and nutritious fish, but also a geological
survival. The bowfn is a sturdy and determined
species that refused TO die out with its contem-
porary type some millions of years ago, back in
the good old days known to geologists as the
Mesozoic. Old species died and new species de-
veloped, but the bowfn went on forever. 1t is
numerous today all through the Great Lakes re-
gion and down the Mississippi valley from Min
nesota to Louisiana, swimming about as sort
OF surviving ancestor of the fishes around it. The
bowhn, variously known as the grindle, the lake
lawyer and the doghsh, is gamy active fish,
hard fighter and clean feeder. Its flesh is rather
soft and very fine grained, and hence it is bet
ter flsh to smoke than to eat fresh. Smoked, it
has been pronounced delicious. 1t has not been
marketed in commercial quantities up to now, but
there is no reason for this except groundless
prejudice.
Another and totally unrelated fish that the
bureau is bringing to the attention of the public
is the rapacious sea fish, which has been officially
named the grayfsh. The grayhsh resembles the
well-known bluehsh in its predatory habits. but
it Is even more wicked and dangerous toward its
neighbors. 1t is great nuisance to fishermen so
long as there is no market for it, Several million
pounds OF grayhsh are eaten annually in England.
AS result OF the campaign to introduce it in
this country, however, the grayhsh has practically
established itself in the last nine months. 1t can
now be secured in tins in thirty-one states and
the District of Columbia The bureau of fisheries
permits the Gamers to state on the label that the
FISH is recommended and the pack approved by
the United States bureau of fisheries. In all such
cases the bureau has investigated and approved
the methods used,
Another fish in the same class is the Pacific
sablefsh, long known as the black cod Like the
og-fsh which does not resemble dog; like the
catfish, which has little in common with the cat
0r he fch tpo foha hoyp .,
tidal waters, which cannot be regarded as source
of pug-cut, the black cod has nothing in common
with the true cod. The bureau is trying to have
the name sablehsh universally adopted not only
in the interests Of scientific accuracy, but also be-
cause the name black cod would cause confusion
in marketing and would probably violate the mis-
branding section of the food and drug act, be-
cause the fish might be mistaken for the true cod
The sablehsh is not at all inferior to the true
cod; it is simply different The bureau calls it one
Of the best and richest Of American food fishes
The sablehsh has been utilized to small extent
by few people on the Pacific coast, but it is just
beginning to appear in the markets on a CONNER
cial scale. 1t has fiat, haky flesh with little bone
which inspires the department of home econo-
mics in the University of Washington to such en-
thusiasm that they declare it equally suitable for
the humblest home-on account of its price-and
for the nillionaire's table. The sablefsh runs
about fifteen pounds in weight, and ships WE'LL
both frozen and fresh.
The sablefsh was called cod and wasn't
cod. Another fish which the bureau is bringing
forward as valuable food fish is close relative
of the cod, and from its various names it has been
impossible to suspect the relationship This fish
was known as the lawyer, the eelpout the ling,
the cusk and by various other unusual designa-
tons 1t was always regarded as destructive to
food fish and useless itself. Its real name is the
burbot; it is the only fresh-water member of the
cod family, and 1t makes excellent eating. 1t is
found in America all the way from the Arctic
circle down to the Ohio river, being particularly
plentiful in the Great Lakes and the larger lakes
of New York and New England The burbot is
expected to come on the market as fish that
combines good food qualities with low price.
Z Apparently every popular name for fish is
misnomer There is fish plentiful on the coasts
of Alaska known as the atka mackerel. The
bureau OF fisheries patiently points out that it is
not mackerel and nothing like mackerel. But
it is an excellent food fish, and be shipped
salted Alaska canneries have been encouraged
to salt this fish, which will be known the atka-
fish, and it should make its appearance in our
markets in the coming winter
The bureau is following the same process in
popularizing these different fish that proved so
sea-mussel. Gamers must be encouraged to de-
velop proper methods of canning, and then the
public must be informed of the nature and value
of the fish in question. When this is done de-
mand usually exceeds supply. When all the fish
mentioned above have become established on our
market, they will add several hundred million
pounds year to our food supply. & VI
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