70 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Persons engaged, wages paid, and operating units, Alaska cod industry, 1931 



Products of Alaska cod industry in 1931 



WHALES 



For the first time since the first whaling plant was established in 

 Alaska in 1907, there was a complete suspension of whaling operations 

 there in 1931. A similar situation existed along the entire American 

 coast of the North Pacific Ocean and was attributed to the low prices 

 on whale oil, which made profitable operations impossible. The 

 American Pacific Whaling Co. leased its dock and some of the build- 

 ings at Port Hobron to the Utopian Fisheries (Inc.) for use in the 

 herring industry. 



CLAMS 



Conditions in the clam industry in 1931 were apparently much more 

 favorable than in any other branch of the Alaska fisheries. The out- 

 put showed a substantial increase over that for 1930, being the largest 

 for any j^ear since 1925, and there was no appreciable decrease in the 

 unit prices. The larger pack w^as attributed partly to the 15-day 

 extension of the fishing season in the Prince William Sound and Copper 

 River areas and partly to the exploitation of new bars, as well as an 

 increase in the number of clam diggers. While the bulk of the 

 product consisted of razor clams from central Alaska — where two 

 plants were engaged exclusively in canning clams and two packed both 

 salmon and clams — a fair quantity of butter clams was handled in the 

 southeastern district at the plant of the Alaskan Glacier Sea Food Co., 

 which put up an experimental pack of this species in the preceding 

 year. 



Observations of the clam beds in the Seward-Katalla district were 

 made during the season under the direction of Seton H. Thompson, 



