New Britain herald., 1920-03-09
PERU HAS FISH TO
 FEED WHOLE WORLD
Great Chance to Organize This
 Industry

New York, March 9.-Peru's coast al waters are teeming with enough fish to feed the world and her islands are all veritable bird sanctuaries, ac- cording to Robert Cushman Murphy, curator of natural science of the Brooklyn Museum, just returned from six months exploration in South America with 500 photographs and 10000 feet of motion picture film. MT. Murphy said that on one sisland he found "the most abundant seabird life on earth,' as many as 100000 feathered creatures of a single species.
 The fisheries of Peru, he said, are Enorganizcd and. although fish are plentiful including such edible varie- ties as the bonito, anchoveta, pcjerrey or smelt the congril (somewhat like a cod), the founder and corvena Comparable to the American sal mon), Peruvians literally ''go hun sry'' because of their scarcity and high price inland due to the prob iems of icing and transportation.
 A few miles off the coast, the re-
 
 net and drew 1t out of the sea filled with four varieties of the most de- ! licious edible crabs. These crusta- ccans, he sa:G, would furnish the \ basis for q nG canning industry both < for home and foreign consumption, vast quantities of such 'seafood now being annually imported by the Unit cd States from Japan
 The ''wouGCrfU1 fish and bird life'' 4sDf Peru. MT. Murphy attributed to the Humboldt Current, a cold body of oceanic water which flows along 1,S00 miles of the coast. He made many srbservationc sr Of this current, he said, following those of Alexander Agassiz and Dr. Robert r. Cokcr of the Unit cd States fish commission, pioneers in such work. Although Perus prox- unity to the equator, he said would cstHSI ore to suppose that it might have the temperature like that rof Florida, it's actual temperature was more like that of Boston. The result of the interesting correlation between i. the Humboldt Current and the abundance of fish and bird life, he said, he has covered in more than 500 pages of data. He also brought with him sixteen cases and crates, in many of which are specimens of curi-
  { MT. Murphy called attention to the guano or fertilizer deposits of Peru, which, he said, may be doubled by the Conservation methods devised by Francisco Ballen, a Peruvian, who he described as lone of the most far-Sighted and able economists in the world" In furtherance of MT. -Ballen's plans, the explorer said, he advocated increasing the breeding area of the guano producing birds, at present confined to fifteen islasds, the sIargest of which are the Chinchi and Mhpps, and where deposits of fertiliz- aF@15D feet in thickness have been round.
 The value of the guano deposts, he said, was also due to the action of the Humboldt Current, the cold winds from which, blowing over the arid land, preserved the fertilizing qualities of the bird line. MT. Mur- aphy, whose work was aided by the Peruvian government, said the islands might be enlarged by dynamiting the cliffs into the sea. He also urged the stoppage of guano gathering during the "cpurtship'' of the birds. The guano, he said, is dug by natives in the interior of the islands and car ried in small railway cars to the 'coast where it is put aboard ships. EXportation, of the fertilizer. he said, was being held up on account of high ocean freight rates.
 The guano birds were enumerated <hy MT. Murphy as the white breasted cormorant, (comm ercially worth $15 a pair in Lma): the pelican and two species of gannet. By actual compu- tation of the nests of some of these birds per metre on one of the islands he estimated that more than 1,000,- 900 of that one species inhabited it. MT Murphy said the ancient Incas of Peru highly prized the guano birds and penalized with death anyone who killed one. Many of the motion pie ture films he brought back, he said, showed the life history of the sea- birds as we'll as the native fisheries and the guano industry.
 In the period from 1S40 to 1908, Mir. Murphy said. many of the birds were killed off and it is only in recent years that efforts have been made to conserve this important resource of Peru. President Leguia and other prominent men, he said. have en- couraged foreign scientific men to visit Peru for the purpose of aScer- taining the best conservation meth ods. A steam tr2wler and two launches were placod at MT. Mur-