FISHERIES OF ALASKA, 1908. 59 



are apparently soldoni soon on the saliuou siive about its head, j^rob- 

 ably because tlie fish succumbs after the lamprey obtains a secure 

 hold uj)on its fleshy parts." 



THE COD FISHERY. 



All of the firms and individuals opcratino; in the district for cod 

 exclusively have their headquarters at San Francisco, Cal., and Seat- 

 tle, Anacortes, or Tacoma, Wash., at wliich places or in their imme- 

 diate vicinity the kench-cured fish are received and prepared for 

 marketing. Most of the operators have shore stations, located at 

 favorable places in central Alaska, from which the dory fishermen 

 carry on their fisher}^ operations, bringing in their catch daily. When 

 sufficient kench-cured fish have accumulated to form a cargo, a vessel 

 is dispatched from the home port, or else a fishing vessel completes 

 its fare from the station catch and carries the fish to the curing: 

 establishments on the coast. A small fleet of vessels also visits the 

 banks, mainly in Bering Sea, where safe harbors in which shore sta- 

 tions can be established are few. 



A few true cod, known locally as gray cod, are caught in the sounds 

 and straits of southeast Alaska each season; but as they are much 

 smaller than the western cod, and are only taken incidentally in other 

 fisheries, those secured are pickled. 



Mr. E. A. Smith, of Seattle, Wash., has invented a method by which 

 the bones of cod are reduced to a pulp and the product put up in 

 hermetically sealed cans. It is the belief of the inventor that the 

 product can be used in making codfish cakes. If this product proves 

 salable, it will furnish a market for a part of the Alaska fish which is 

 at present thrown away. 



Early in the season coast prices on codfish broke very sharply, 

 largely because of the impracticability of moving the prepared prod- 

 ucts after the ruling of the federal authorities against the use of borax 

 as a preservative in shipping. Prices became better a month or two 

 later, however, when it was ruled that borax could be used provided 

 the packers distinctly labeled the packages with directions for the 

 removal of the preservative. 



The prejudice in the eastern markets against Pacific cod, traceable 

 largely to the business jealousy of eastern dealers, is rapidly wearing 

 away as the excellent qualit}'^ of the western product is becoming bet- 

 ter knowTi. Frequently in tho past when the eastern dealers have 

 been faced with a shortage of cod they have purchased Pacific cod 



a See Rutter, Natural history of the quinnat sahnon, Bulletin U. S. Fish Coinmis- 

 fiion, vol. XXII, 1902, p. 120; and Moser, Salmon investigations in 1900, Bulletin 

 U. S. Fish Commission, vol. xxi, 1901, p. 192. 



