THE FISHES OF ALASKA. 



233 



Individual Lengths and Weights of Seventy-one Pacific Herring ii'lipea pallasih. Taken 



at Uyak Bay, Alaska. August 4. 1903. 



Tho herring is now a fish of considerable and growing important in Si ml In asi Uaska. It is salted 

 to some extent a1 certain of the salmon canneries, and when so prepared is an excellent article of food. 



For a number of \ -ear- im -at quantities have I n used foroi] and fertilizer at Killisnoo. Recently it has 



come t" be in great demand as bait in the halibut fisheries. 



According to Mr. Cobb a , this fish is said to spawn in southeast UaskainMayto July. The grounds are 

 widely distributed from Howkan to Skagway and through ley straits to Cross Sound. After spawning 

 the fish are said to school out in the deeper water of Frederick Sound and Stephens Passage, and later 

 reenter the bays to feed. During July and August they are filled with "red feed," and are then very 

 difficult to cure. In Sept em I >er and < ictober their food seems to change and they are then in prime condi- 

 tion. The runs are usually composed of mixed sizes, although in early summer the sizes are said to be 

 uniformly small in Borne places. 



The herring is one of the chief articles of food of the kim: Balmon in the winter and spring in certain 

 purls of Alaska, particularly about Killisnoo, Chilkoot Inlet, and Ketchikan. This was observed during 

 an unusual run of king slamon, which began about the middle of January, 1905, and continued until May 

 18. There is usually a large run of herring in ( 'hilkoot Inlet early in the spring. 



Recorded by Bean (1884) from Silka; Old Sitka; Port Altlmrp; Port Mulgrave; Chugachik Bay, 

 Cook Inlet; Iliuliuk, Uhalaska; St. Michael; and P' ot Clarence; and i L882) Wrangell. Unalaska and 

 Herendeen Bay (Gilbert 1895). St. Michael; Unalaska Harbor, and N'orton Sound (Nelson 1887 1. Port 

 Clarence (Scofield 1899). 



"Fisheries of Alaska in 1906, Bureau of Fisheries Document 618, p. 52, 1907. 



