FISHEKlEti UF ALAbKA, 1^08. 



65 



An ever-increasing fleet of steamers from Puget Sound and British 

 Columbia fishes occasionally in Alaska waters, but it has been found 

 impossible to secure accurate data as to their catch taken in this 

 region. These vessels return to their home ports as soon as a full 

 fare has been secured. 



THE HERRING FISHERY. 



At times herring \\ere very abundant in southeast Alaska, while 

 in central Alaska nearly every bay in which there is eel grass was 

 filled with them, some of these when packed running 240 fish to the 

 ban-el. Owing to the low prices realized for Alaska-cured herring 

 and the high freight charges from central Alaska points, but few 

 were shipped out of the district this year. The only hope, apparently, 

 for the herring fishery in central Alaska is that the codfish men who 

 already have curing stations for handling cod, and a fleet of trans- 

 porters will take it up, but they will not probabl}' find it attractive 

 at the present unremunerative prices. The establishment of smoke- 

 houses has been suggested, but this would be feasible in central 

 Alaska only if the cod dealers took it up. In southeast Alaska the 

 greater part of the catch is either prepared as fertilizer and oil, or used 

 as bait in the halibut fisheries, but few herring being shipped out of 

 the district for food. 



Products of the Alaska Herring Fisheries i\ 1908. 



FERTILIZER AND OILS. 



The great desideratum in the fisheries of Alaska at the present 

 time is the invention of a small odorless fertilizer plant, costing not 

 more than $2,500 or S3,000, which can be installed at the various 

 salmon canneries and salteries. The ofi'al, which at present is 

 thrown overboard to pollute the waters, could thus be utihzed, 

 and as in an average year the orfl'al from the salmon canneries alone 

 amounts to over 35,000,000 pounds, it is easily to be seen that to 

 save it and turn it into fertilizer and oil would not only net a fair 

 financial return to the canners and prevent an enormous annual 

 wastage, but would also render the waters adjacent to the canneries 



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