48 FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1907. 



VESSEL FISHING. 



A fleet of 10 vessels, with headquarters in Cahfornia or Washington, 

 operated in Alaska waters this year. Some of the vessels spent the 

 winter of 1906-7 in the north, but met with very little success. The 

 only addition to this fleet in 1907 was the schooner Martha H. The 

 schooner Lizzie Colby, formerly owmed and operated by J. A. Mathe- 

 son, of Anacortes, Wash., was sold early in the year, and did not 

 engage in fishing. Nearly all of this fleet operated, during the summer 

 at least, in Bering Sea, and all met with little success. Considerable 

 complaint was heard again this year in regard to certain vessels' 

 practice of dumping their gurry on the banks; which is said to drive 

 the fish away. 



On September 30, the schooner Glen, belonging to the Pacific 

 States Trading Company, of San Francisco, was wrecked in Ikitak 

 Bay, Unimak Island. One of her crew was drowned and 28,000 fish 

 were lost. Other casualties during the year were a fisherman lost 

 from the schooner Dora Blulim, of San Francisco, and one lost from 

 the schooner Hunter, of San Francisco. 



The bait question, which is a very serious one to the fishermen of 

 the Atlantic coast, causes no anxiety to the Pacific fishermen. Hali- 

 but, sculpins, and cuttlefish are the principal bait used, and large 

 quantities of these are secured in fishing for cod. 



The scarcity of labor for service as fishermen is a serious difficulty 

 to the vessel owners. The greater part of the fishermen on most of 

 the vessels are picked up along the water fronts of the coast cities, 

 and most crews contain only a few good men. In 1906 the Robin- 

 son Fisheries Company brought 40 experienced cod fishermen from 

 Gloucester, Mass., and this year a number were brought from the 

 same place by the Union Fish Company. 



The vessels from Puget Sound ports operating in Alaska waters 

 caught 860,264 fish, while those from San Francisco caught 779,119, a 

 total of 1,639,383 fish. In addition a fleet of 4 San Francisco vessels 

 operated in the Okhotsk Sea, but had a most disastrous season, only 

 about 251,800 fish being secured. As the headquarters of this fleet 

 are outside of the district, none of these data are included in the sta- 

 tistical tables of this report. 



THE HALIBUT FISHERY. 



This choice food fish occupies a most important position in the com- 

 mercial fisheries of Alaska. At present the industry is restricted to 

 southeast Alaska, largely because of the fact that central and western 

 Alaska are too remote for present steamship facihties. Trustworthy 

 reports from Cook Inlet are to the effect that halibut are scattered 

 practically all around the inlet, although in what abundance is not 



