212 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



acceptable roadstead along the southern aud western coasts; an active competition for furs, oil, 

 ivory, old copper, iron, and junk was earnestly inaugurated; commerce revived, the sails of our 

 vessels whitened every creek, bay, and sound, and the .staid Russians very soon obtained an insight 

 into Yankee progress on the go ahead principle." 



3. THE FISHING GROUNDS. 



The great bulk of the cod taken in Alaska are caught within easy reach of the shore, at such 

 distances as may be traversed in canoes and dories. This is true for every part of the Territory in 

 which the fish are found. While we were at Sitka (during part of May and June) Indians brought 

 them down occasionally from Old Sitka, only a few miles away. Mr. A. T. Whitford, of Sitka, 

 states that they are abundant in spring. " Lisiansky caught them with hook and line in Sitka 

 Sound."* Capt. J. Haley informed me that small cod are abundant in Prince Frederick Sound 

 Captain Haley gave me the limits of the Hoocheuoo Bank as Hoocheuoo Point and Point Samuel. 

 As already stated, the fish brought to him here by Indians were caught from canoes; they were 

 very abundant, and their average weight dried was 3 pounds, which is about the average of the 

 Shumagiu cod. According to the same authority, there is another bank off Point Gardiner, and 

 there are banks on the east shore of Baranoff Island, near Poghibshi Strait. "Cod have been 

 taken in abundance at Nootka, Sitka, Lituya Bay, Yakutat Bay, Chugach Gulf, Cook's Inlet, Bris- 

 tol Bay, and throughout the Kodiak, Aleutian, and Pribyloff Islands."! Portlock found cod abun- 

 dant at Port Etches, which is at the entrance to Chugach Gulf or Prince William Sound; Belcher 

 took them near Cape Chiniak, Kodiak island. I am indebted to Mr. William J. Fisher for infor- 

 mation about the shore fishing in the vicinity of Saint Paul, Kodiak. Mr. Fisher obtained this in- 

 formation from Capt. H. R. Bowen. Ten men are employed steadily from May to September, 

 inclusive, and besides these the natives lay up their winter supplies whenever opportunity offers. 

 The favorite grounds are on a pumpkin or clam bottom, in 15 to 20 fathoms of water. Dories and 

 skin's are principally used, and they carry from one to three men. The average daily catch per 

 man is 200 fish. Within easy reach of Belkoffsky fine cod are taken freely. The fishing around 

 the Shuinagins is done at short distances from the shore. The fishing station of McColIam & Co. 

 at Pirate Cove employs eight men, all of whom go out in their dories during the day and dress 

 their fish on shore in the evening. Those who come up in the vessels from San Francisco are gen- 

 erally within easy reach of North Harbor, Unga Island. Thus we have traced the cod along 

 the whole south coast of Alaska and found them abundant near the shore. The. same is true of 

 the Aleutian Islands. Near Iliuliuk, at the entrance to Captain's Harbor, and on the ridge at 

 the entrance to Port Levasheff, cod are plentiful. I have been thus explicit in my details of the 

 shore fishing to give an idea of the large proportion it furnishes of the entire catch, and to supply 

 the opportunity of noting the great contrast with the New England cod fishery. 



Extended areas of soundings on which cod assemble in great masses aie present in the Gulf 

 of Alaska, but they have been little investigated, and their limits and characteristics are imper- 

 fectly known. I have already referred to the Hoocheuoo Bank in Chatham Strait, the bank off 

 Point Gardiner, aud those off the oust .shore of Baranoff Island, near Poghibshi Strait. These 

 grounds are scarcely known, except to Indians, and to some extent to Captain Haley. It is unlikely 

 that large vessels will seek cod there, because of the difficulties of navigation, but the time will 

 come when great stores will be secured by small craft, the quality of the fish taken there being- 

 excellent aud the size equal to the average of the Shutnagin fish. 



PORTLOCK BANK. This is the most northerly of a series of banks extending along the Kodiak, 

 Shumagin, and Fox groups of islands, at varying distances from the shore. A series of soundings 

 * Ball in Report Comni. Agric., 18*0, p. 377. t Ball, op. tit., p. 378. 



