THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 209 



Numerous parasites were present externally, and the abdominal viscera were infested with worms. 

 .V very unpleasant odor came from the belly when it was opened. 



On the 2d of July, in Chugaclnck Bay, Cook's Inlet, three large cod were caught from the 

 vessel, all of whicli were sick, their abdominal viscera being lined with worms and giving off a 

 bad odor, yet the fish were quite heavy. 



On the 5th of July a healthy cod 28f inches long and blind in both eyes was caught on a hook 

 in Port Chatham, near the entrance to Cook's Inlet. The fish was entirely free from parasites. 

 Its stomach contained only the herring with which the hook was baited. Instead of the trans- 

 parent aqueous humor in the anterior chamber of the eye, there was an opaque white substance, 

 the result, doubtless, of an old injury. A second fish taken here (about an inch longer than the 

 blind one) seemed to be perfectly healthy, but there were numerous small worms in the intestines. 

 In its stomach were an Ammodytes, a little wad of kelp, and a pebble. 



In examining a fresh fish caugbt near Sitka I found the inside of its mouth containing many 

 leruaean parasites. 



Capt. H. B. Bowen has never seen deformed cod in the vicinity of Kodiak, but diseased ones 

 are common. He has frequently noticed ulcerated sores along the body, and especially on the head. 

 Dead cod have never been seen to bis knowledge. 



Mr. Deviue, of the Shumagins, has seen cod sometimes with their backbone broken, causing 

 a deformity known as " rose bones," but he has never seen dead fish in any quantity at or near 

 Pirate Cove. In earlier years, be says, you could heave up hundreds of sick cod at the wharf. 

 Sometimes you would take cod long, thin, and gaunt, and after taking out the bone yon might 

 " read the Bulletin through them." Mr. Deviue mentions, as external parasites found on Shumagin 

 cod, " cuttle-fish, whelks, worms, and fish-lice." The commonest external parasites observed by 

 me were small lernasans. 



Around Kodiak seals and sea-lions prey upon cod, frequently taking them from the line, 

 according to Captain Bowen. 



Mr. Devine tells me that sharks are very abundant about the Shumagins and very destructive 

 to cod. Dogfish (Sgualus acantliias) also prey upon cod, but they are not abundant. We caught 

 comparatively few dogfish during the summer one at Port Althorp, on e on Portlock Bank, and 

 many at Sitka. 



2. HISTOEY OF THE FISHEEY. 



In the speech of Hon. Charles Sumner on the cession of Eussian America to the United States 

 (printed at the Congressional Globe office, Washington, 1867) is an abstract of the references made 

 by early navigators and visitors in Alaska to the fishes of its waters. The cod is among those 

 most frequently mentioned, appearing for the first time in the report of a Eussian navigator in 

 1765. Mr. Sumuer then quotes from Cook (1786), Portlock (1787), Meares, Billings (1792), Langs- 

 dorf (180i), Lu'tke, and Sir George Simpson (1841). All of these speak of the cod as being one of 

 the commonest fish. 



It appears that the first cod brought to San Francisco were taken by the brig Timandra off 

 the island of Saghalien in 1863. I quote the account of it from the San Francisco Commercial 

 Herald and Market Eeview of January 15, 1880: "The North Pacific cod-fishing grounds have 

 been regularly prospected for fourteen years. The first fish ever brought to this market from that 

 section was in 1863 or 1864, by the brig Timandra. While this vessel was lying becalmed off the 

 island of Saghalien, the crew, for want of something better to do, commenced fishing. They were 

 astonished at their success on their first day, and continued their pastime from day to day until 



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