Fisheries 1DN0 Find out at the stores in your neighborhood the price of canned salmon. At the average price, how many dollars’ worth of food would result annually from the work of the Washington hatcheries Each state has game laws intended to protect the wild animal life of the state. How are the fish in the rivers and lakes of your state protected by law? The state and Federal governments have passed laws to prevent oysters from becoming so scarce that only the richest people can afford to buy them. About half the oysters now produced in this country are grown on * farms >’ from 20 to 100 feet below the level of the ocean surface. Why are many of these oysters canned at Baltimore, Maryland ? Another variety of sea food which is conserved by the government is the lobster. Government inspectors are employed to see that the fishermen return to the water all lobsters of less than a certain length. The lobsters carrying eggs are taken from the fishermen and placed in ‘ nurseries.” Thousands of baby lobsters are returned to the sea from these nurseries. The world’s unused ocean resources. The United States government spent a large sum to introduce a fish new to the market — the tile fish. As a result 12,000,000 were caught and sold in a recent year. Assuming that this fish averaged four pounds in dressed weight and brought twenty-five cents a pound, how many dollars’ worth of food was thus added to the American table? If one pound of tile fish is nearly equal in food value to one pound of steak selling at fifty cents, about how many dollars were saved in one year to the American housewives? The fish supply of tropical waters is not well exploited. =~ What hinders the transportation and marketing of fresh fish in the tropics? E. Fishing for other purposes than food. 1. Why has the whaling industry declined? Whale meat is much like beef, and in Japan whales are caught for food. Why is not whale meat found in the markets in the United States? 2. Where do our sponges come from? How are they caught and prepared ? 3. Where are the most important pearl fisheries ? 4. Find out how and where coral is secured. F. A class project. 1. Visit a local fish market and make a list of the fish that are on sale. Note after each kind whether it is fresh, frozen, dried, salted, smoked, or canned. Also find out if possible the source of each. (Labels will help you with the canned fish.) 2. Why is each prepared in the special way that you find in the store? 3. Let each member of the class make a special study of the fish he considers the best to eat and add his study as a chapter in the class book.