56 FISHERY AND PUR INDUSTRIES OF ALASKA IN 1912, 



salmon and halibut is included in tables appearmg elsewhere in this 

 report. 



Beleke. — For a number of years past it has been the custom to 

 prepare at Kodiak and in a lesser way at other places a very pala- 

 table product known locally as beleke. This was made from the 

 backs of red and coho salmon the bellies of which were salted. The 

 preparation of beleke was suspended this season chiefly by reason of 

 the establishment of a cannery at Kodiak. 



Salmon bellies and ukalu. — It is noteworthy that practically no 

 salmon bellies were put up in Alaska this year. The law requires 

 that the remaining edible portion of the fish shall be utilized to 

 avoid wanton waste, and as this is not always easy of accomplish- 

 ment at a profit and involves considerable labor, the incentive to 

 prepare salmon bellies is much lessened. It is a common practice 

 to dry the backs of the fish thus used, and the resulting product, 

 designated as ukalu, is used as dog food, also for fox food at the fox 

 ranches. The market for ukalu is entirely local. 



Kippered salmon. — ^A most delicious product, designated as kip- 

 pered salmon, is put up in a moderate way on the Pacific coast. It 

 is prepared by lightly smoking mUd-cured king salmon, often of the 

 white-meated variety. The very attractive quality of this product 

 merits a wider market and an extension of the industry to Alaska. 



HERRING FISHERY. 



GENERAL CONDITIONS. 



The herring is an incredibly numerous fish that is found in the 

 waters of Alaska at all seasons of the year, but more particularly 

 during the winter and spring months. The r61e played by the herring 

 is of diversified cliaracter. It is a valuable food fish, the Orient 

 being the chief market at present for the Alaska product; it is the 

 making of the halibut fishery on account of its use for bait; it is 

 utilized extensively in the manufacture of fertilizer and oil, a practice 

 that probably will be discontinued by legal mandate in a few j^ears, 

 and the herring also is consumed in enormous quantities by other 

 fishes. 



At first thought it might seem that these heavy drains would soon 

 diminish the supply of herring almost to the pomt of extermination, 

 but such is not the case. The history of the herring fishery the 

 world over, and particularly of northern Europe where it has been 

 prosecuted vigorously for generations, demonstrates the fallacy of 

 the claim made by some that there has been a constant and appreci- 

 able decline in the supply of herring. There are occasional instances 

 of the more or less temporary disappearance of the large runs, as for 

 example, at Nanaimo, British Columbia, where a few yeai-s ago 

 enormous quantities of herring were taken by Japanese fishermen 



