The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-03-06
FOUND ENOUGH FISH
TO FEED WORLD
Robert Cushman Murphy of Brooklyn
Also Located Countless Birds
on Coast of Peru.

Perus coastal waters are teemn,
with enough fish TO feed the World anC
her islands are veritable bird sane
tUares, according to Robert Cushmar
I Murphy, curator of natural science Of
the Brooklyn museum, just returned
from six months exploration in Soutl
America with 500 photographs and TO-
000 feet of motion picture film Mr.
| Murphy said that ON one island he
found the most abundant seabird life
on EARTH" as many as 100000 feath
cred creatures of a single species.
The fisheries of Peru, be said, are un.
organized and, although fish are plen.
tiful, including such edible varieties as
the bonito, anchoveto, peierrey OF
smelt, the congril somewhat like q
cod, the founder and corvena ICON
parable to the American salmon, Peru.
vians literally go hungry" because of
their scarcity and high prices inland
due to the problems of icing and trans
portation.
A few miles off the coast, the re-
turned explorer said, he let down a
net and drew it out of the sea filled
with four varieties of the most de-
licious edible crabs These crustaceans,
he said, would furnish the basis for q
big canning industry both for home
and foreign consumption, vast guam
titles of such sea food now being an
nually imported by the United States
from Japan.
The wonderful fish and bird life"
of Peru, Mr.. Murphy attributed to the
Humboldt current a cold body of
oceanic water which flows along l,s00
miles of the coast. He made many
observations of this current, he said,
following those Of Alexander Agassiz
and DIR. Robert i. Coker of the United
States fish commission, pioneers in
such work. Although Peru's proximity
to the equator. he said would cause
one TO suppose that it might have
temperature like that of Florida, its
actual temperature was more like that
of Boston. The result of the interest
ing correlation between the Humboldt
current and the abundance of fish and
bird life, he said, he has covered in
more than 800 pages of data He also
brought with him l6 cases and crates,
in many of which are specimens of Gu
rious marine and feathered creatures.
Mr.. Murphy called attention to the
gtIano or fertilizer deposits of Peru,
which, he said may be doubled by the
methods devised by Fran
cisco Ballen, a Peruvian, whom he de-
scribed as "one of the most far-sighted
and able economists in the world" In
of Mr. Ballen's plans, the
explorer said, he advocated increasing
the breeding area of the guano produc
ing birds, at present confined to 10
islands, the largest OF which are the
Chinchi and Lobos, and where deposits
Of fertilizer $50 feet in thickness have
been found.
The value of the guano deposits, he
said. was also due TO the action of
the Humboldt current. the cold winds
from which, blowing over the arid land, /
the fertilizing qualities OF
the bird lime Mr.. Murphy, whose |
work was aided by the Peruvian gov
,rnment, said the islands might be (
by dynamiting the cliffs into !
The sea He also urged the stoppagc I
If guano gathering during the court I
ship" of the birds. The guano, he said, !
= dug by natives in the interior of the .
Stands and carried in small railway
'ars to tbs coast, where it is put
aboard ships Expectation of the fer
iIzer, he said. was being held up on
recount of high ocean freight rates. /
The guano birds were Enumerated by
Mr. Murphy as the white. breasted cor
norant commercially worth Sl5 pair
n Lima; the pelican and two species
II gannet. BY actual computation Of !
he nests of some Of these birds per !
metre on one of the islands he eStimat. /
d that more than 100000 of that one :