The success of fish farming will depend upon having sufficient spawn to incubate and rear large numbers of young fish and a number of suitable lakes and lagoons that are large enough and can be made ready for salmon rearing operations.

Areas under investigation are spread throughout the State, including Eastern Washington, so that the benefits therefrom may be distributed to the salmon fishing industry throughout the State.

The salt-water rearing program is expected to be accelerated following the acquisition of some 8 additional lagoons presently under survey. These areas comprise only those that have been converted to natural salmon rearing ponds or are concerned with fish-farm projects. As the program progresses, additional possible salmon rearing areas are expected to be found that will be suitable for the expansion of natural low-cost rearing areas.

The natural fish-farming program for salmon is carried out in conjunction with fish reared and released from the State's 19 hatcheries and 2 salt-water research stations (one at Pt. Whitney and the other at Bowman's Bay). This year's release of young salmon is expected to approximate 65 million fish. Additional plantings of salmon in Washington streams from Federally-operated stations amounted to about 48 million young salmon during 1957. This should be equalled this year.

Young fish marked and released from Columbia River, Grays Harbor, Willapa Harbor, and Puget Sound stations are showing up in fisheries from Central Alaska to Southern Oregon. A large percentage of Deschutes River-marked fish make up the sport catch in lower Puget Sound.

Note: Also see Commercial Fisheries Review, August 1958 p. 47.

Wholesale Prices, August 1958

The August 1958 edible fish and shellfish wholesale price index remained close to the near-record level of the preceding months and was only 1.6 percent below the 11-year record of June 1958. Seasonal declines in the wholesale prices of fresh and frozen shrimp and a drop in ex-vessel prices for haddock were primarily responsible for the slight decline (one percent) in the index between July and August this year. These lower prices more than offset some increases in wholesale prices for freshwater fish, frozen fillets, and canned tuna. The August edible fish and shellfish (fresh, frozen, and canned) wholesale price index (129.9 of the 1947-49 average) was 12.0 percent above the same month a year ago.

Although landings of groundfish (principally haddock) continued light in August, prices for large drawn haddock at mid-August were down about 13.6 percent from the preceding month; fresh Western halibut prices declined about 7.5 percent as the fishing season approached its peak and end. Increases of 5.7 percent in red king salmon prices, 40 percent for Lake Erie whitefish, and 9.3 percent for Great Lakes yellow pike more than offset the drop in haddock and halibut prices. Thus the index for the drawn, dressed, or whole finfish subgroup from July to August 1958 rose 1.1 percent. As compared with August 1957, the subgroup index this August was up 35.3 percent because August 1958 prices were substantially higher for all items in the subgroup except for Lake Superior whitefish (down 12.3 percent).

The fresh processed fish and shellfish subgroup index for this August declined 4.7 percent as compared with the preceding month, but was up by 6.3 percent from August 1957. Because landings of East Coast shrimp improved during

August, prices at New York dropped 8.1 percent from the
previous month. Small haddock fillets at Boston were also
lower (down 2.5 percent) due to the lower ex-vessel prices.
But both of these items were priced higher this August
(shrimp was up 7.7 percent and haddock fillets up 26.2 per-
cent) than in August 1957.

The frozen processed fish and shellfish subgroup index
was unchanged from July to August this year, but increased
1.8 percent from August 1957 to August 1958. Price in-
creases from July to August of 2.5 percent for frozen had-
dock fillets and 4.7 percent for frozen flounder fillets were
offset by a drop of 5.4 percent in the price for frozen shrimp
at Chicago. Because of light production and very low in-
ventories at the beginning of the season, all frozen fillets
in the subgroup were priced higher (haddock up 20.8 per-
cent) in August this year as compared with the same month
a year ago, but shrimp was priced lower by 7.8 percent.
Canned fishery products prices this August were up
from the previous month by 1.1 percent and from the same
month of 1957 by 5.4 percent. Wholesale prices for canned
pink salmon and Maine sardines were unchanged from July
to August this year, but higher prices for canned tuna pushed
this subgroup index up by 2.6 percent. All canned fishery
products that make up this subgroup with the exception
of pink salmon were priced higher in August 1958 than in
August a year ago. The market remained firm for canned
tuna and Maine sardines, but a drop in the wholesale prices
of canned pink salmon was predicted as the month ended
due to the good pack of this variety in Alaska. Future
prospects for better catches of California sardines were
good and the 1958 pack is expected to be substantially
greater than in 1957.

in 1958; three previous cruises were conducted offshore from the Washington and Oregon coasts earlier this year.

Fig. 3 Cod end of shrimp trawl on the John N.
Cobb with catch of shrimp from Marmot Bay,
Kodiak Island, Alaska.

In addition to routine exploratory work, samples of shrimp and fish were collected for biological and technological study. Oceanographic and meteorological data were recorded throughout the cruise.

Oysters

JOINT RESEARCH PROGRAM ON STANDARDS: Three participants--Oyster Institute of North America, U. S. Food and Drug Administration, and the U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries--have agreed to a joint research program to develop standards for oysters.

The oyster industry through the Institute agreed to bear its share of the cost of the studies and to serve on a joint Committee of three to follow through on the program.

Under this program all data available will be pooled and the entire work will be under the direction of one outstanding scientist appointed jointly by the participants. A Steering Committee of three persons--one from each organization--has been appointed to select a director, obtain a site for the work, and develop the aims of the study and the projects to be studied. The Committee is composed of Charles Butler, Chief, Branch of Technology, U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries; Jonas L. Bassen, Asst. Chief, Program Planning and Review of the U. S. Food and Drug Administration, and David H. Wallace designated as the industry representative.

Pacific Oceanic Fishery Investigations

ALBACORE TUNA SURVEY IN CENTRAL NORTH PACIFIC COMPLETED: (M/V Hugh M. Smith Cruise 46): The return of the U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries research vessel Hugh M. Smith to Honolulu on September 9, 1958, from a 51-day cruise to the central North Pacific brought the Pacific Oceanic Fishery Investigations (POFI) study of the distribution and abundance of albacore tuna to a

close for the current season. The other vessel which participated in the survey, the M/V Paragon, had returned to Seattle on September 7. The Hugh M. Smith was primarily engaged in the collection of oceanographic and biological data while the Paragon was engaged in an actual attempt to determine whether the albacore were sufficiently abundant for gill-netting on a commercial scale.

The results of the survey were disappointing from the standpoint of the area's potential as a commercial fishery, especially after the promising results of surveys during the summers of 1955 and 1956. The catch of the Paragon was very small, averaging less than one-half ton a day. There were only one or two small areas where the catches approached commercial quantities.

The biological and oceanographic studies provided some explanation as to the decline of fish. The environmental conditions were vastly different from those of 1955 and 1956. The most prominent of these differences was the lower surface water temperatures in the area which resulted in a southerly shift in the area having a suitable temperature for albacore.

The Paragon chartered to test the commercial feasibility of gill-netting albacore in mid-ocean, began gill-netting operations on July 27, 1958, at 41°42' N. latitude and 157° 10' W. longitude, or roughly 1,800 miles west of southern Oregon, The gill-netting for albacore was continued through August in an area between 155 and 160 W. longitude, and a disappointing total of some 15 tons of fish was taken.

Catches of albacore made by salmon gill-netters which fished along the northern border of albacore water during 1955 were impressive. The survey conducted by POFI in 1956 and in the same general area again showed good results, particularly along 175 W. longitude. However, these earlier indications of the presence of large concentrations of albacore were at variance with the relatively poor catches during August of the Paragon. Obviously albacore were not in this area in the same abundance as was true of the previous years when surveys were made. Oceanographic conditions were also unusual and this may be the explanation of the poorer than expected catches. This year the general distribution of albacore in the North Pacific seems to have changed. Independent evidence of this is available from the localities where the best albacore catches are now being made along the Pacific coast. In general the coastal catch localities of good fishing have shifted northward.

NEW DOCKSITE FACILITY OPENED: The Pacific Oceanic Fishery Investigations of the U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and the Hawaiian Board of

Table 1 - Wholesale Average Prices and Indexes for Edible Fish and Shellfish, August 1958 With Comparisons

1/Represent average prices for one day (Monday or Tuesday) during the week in which the 15th of the month occurs. These prices are published as indicators of movement and not necessarily absolute level. Daily Market News Service "Fishery Products Reports" should be referred to for actual prices.

129.9

131.2 131.5 116.0

147.2

150,0

150.4 127.0

152.7 151,0

147.2 112.9

Ib.

.11

.13

113.7

131.6 121.6 80.6

New York

lb.

.37

.40

114.5

123.8 123.8 99.0