FISIIKKV INDUSTRIES. 



67 



There wore 485 persoiis engaged in coii iishery operations in 

 central Alaska during 1912. 



Products op Alaska Cod Fisheries in 1912. 



WHALE FISHERY. 



GENERAL CONDITIONS. 



Unusual activity marked the shore-station whaling industiy in 

 Alaska waters this year. In addition to the Tyee Co., which has 

 operated several seasons, the Alaska Whaling Co. and the United 

 States "\Mialing Co. entered the field in extensive manner. A general 

 discussion of the work of each company will be given below. 



Unfavorable weather conditions, which much of the time made it 

 impossible to hunt, also the failure to take a better proportion of 

 the more valuable sperm and sulphur-bottom varieties, resulted m 

 an unsatisfactory season. Moreover, the market for the finished 

 product was not as strong as anticipated. In order to put the 

 business on a better basis, arrangements ought to be made to utilize 

 every portion of each whale killed instead of only the oil and bone, 

 as is chiefly the case in Alaska at present. 



The Tyee Co. operated only one killing boat this year, the Tyee 

 Junior (71 tons). The hunting was farther offshore, attention being 

 directed almost wholly to the capture of the larger whales — sperms 

 and sulphur bottoms — which are much more prolita])le to handle. In 

 addition to the Tyee Junior, the fleet consisted of the schooner 

 Allen A (266 tons) and the unrigged vessels Diamond Head (952 

 tons) and Fresno (1,149 tons). The barge Sperm was also utilized. 



The com])any's shore station at Tyee near the lower end of Admi- 

 ralty Island was not in use this season, the work being carried on 

 instead at WTiale Bay on the southwest shore of Baranof Island. 

 All of the processing and work was done on the barges anchored in 

 "VMiale Bay, where the whales were towed by the Tyee Junior. The 

 change of base from Tyee was much more satisfactory by reason of 

 the new location being nearer the whaling grounds. 



