16 KEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



Flounders. — The flounder fishery on both the Atlantic and Pacific 

 coasts is increasing in importance. The catch landed at New Eng- 

 land ports, of which Boston is the principal market, is about 

 5,500,000 pounds annually, with a value of $150,000. The Middle 

 Atlantic States produce a little over 3,000,000 pounds, worth $114,000, 

 and the South Atlantic and Gulf States 400,000 pounds, worth 

 $10,000. This is a total of 9,300,000 pounds for the Atlantic coast, 

 while the Pacific States produced 4,550,000 pounds. The flounder 

 catch of both coasts has a value of approximately $360,000. 



Stvordfish.— The increasing demand for swordfish in the last ten 

 years has directed considerable attention to this fishery. The catch 

 in 1906 was 3,296,369 pounds, valued at $204,637, which is about 

 twice the quantity and value of the catch two years previous. 



Halibut. — On the Atlantic coast in the last ten years this impor- 

 tant fishery has greatly declined. The catch in 1906, however, was 

 considerably in excess of that of 1905, being 4,654,446 pounds, against 

 3,715,776, a gain of 938,670 pounds and $78,436. The quantity of 

 halibut landed at Gloucester in 1906 exceeds that landed at Boston the 

 same year by 3,509,946 pounds and $232,468 in value. Of the total 

 quantity, 635,881 pounds was salted, all of it marketed at Glouces- 

 ter. The increase in the catch is attributed to the fact that the banks 

 have not for a number of years been so extensively fished as for- 

 merly, the fleet at the same time having decreased about two-thirds. 

 The halibut has thus had time to reestablish itself. Up to the close 

 of the fiscal year 1907 the catch on the Atlantic coast approximated 

 that for the corresponding period of 1906. 



The large catches on the Pacific halibut grounds for the past fif- 

 teen years have brought a considerable number of steam and sailing 

 vessels into this fishery, and the grounds have been very thoroughly 

 fished. A consequent scarcity of fish is said to have existed on some 

 important grounds in 1906, but the increased yield of the Atlantic 

 banks lessened the demand for Pacific halibut, and thus limited the 

 catch for that year. The quantity taken is estimated to have 

 amounted to about 11,000,000 pounds, however, which is 6,000,000 

 pounds more than the catch on the Atlantic coast. 



Alaska salmon. — The new laws governing the fisheries of Alaska 

 did not become operative until so late in the fishing season of 1906 

 that they Avere without effect during that year, and the annual inspec- 

 tion revealed practically unchanged conditions, though the several 

 branches showed fluctuations in output. The pack of canned salmon 

 was unusually large — the best since 1903 — and the goods brought 

 remunerative prices, making the season a prosperous one. The agi-. 

 tation concerning the meat-packing plants in Chicago led to some 

 distrust in European markets of American canned salmon, but the 

 exceptional care and cleanliness which ])revails in the salmon-pack- 



