FISHERIES OP ALASKA IN 1907. 53 



Investment in and Products op the Alaska Halibut Fisheries in 1907. 



Items. 



Fishing vessels: 



Steamers and launches 



Tonnage 



Sailing 



Tonnage 



Transporting vessels: 



Steamers and launches 



Tonnage 



Boats 



Apparatus: 



Vessel fisheries, trawl lines . 



Shore fisheries, trawl lines. , 



Shore and accessory property. . 



Total. 



Number. Value 



14 



214 

 15 

 145 



4 

 52 

 116 



$90, 400 



"u'.m 



19,220 



"26,656 



5,460 

 6,089 

 11,000 



164, 126 



Products. 



Halibut, fresh 



Halibut, frozen. . 

 Halibut, fletched. 



Total. 



Round 

 weight. 



Pounds. 



3, 630, 256 

 375,000 

 482,362 



4,487,618 



Dressed 

 weight. 



Pounds. 



2,904,205 

 300,000 

 385,890 



3,590,095 



Value. 



$109,293 

 15, 286 

 16, 172 



THE PUGET SOUND FISHING FLEET. 



A fleet of Puget Sound power and sail vessels yisits southeast 

 Alaska during the months from October to March, when, owing to 

 stormy weather and a scarcity of fish, it is not safe or profitable to 

 visit the fishing banks near their home ports. This fleet makes its 

 headquarters mainly at Petersburg, at the head of Wrangell Narrows, 

 shipping the catch home from Scow Bay, near by, via the regular 

 steamship lines. During 1907 this fleet comprised 15 power and 15 

 sail vessels, with a net tonnage of 475 tons and a value of $58,200, an 

 increase of 7 over the number of vessels used in 1906. This fleet was 

 manned by 159 men and used 65 dories and $5,850 worth of trawl lines. 

 The catch amounted to 2,640,489 pounds of halibut, dressed, valued 

 at $98,025, a gain over 1906 of 637,819 pounds in quantity and of 

 $17,144 in value. At the end of the fishing season in the spring most 

 of the vessels return to their home ports, but a few are put into sum- 

 mer quarters in the little streams and bays of Wrangell Narrows until 

 needed the next fall. In addition to the above an ever-increasing 

 fleet of steamers from Puget Sound and British Columbia also fishes 

 occasionally in Alaska, but it has been found impossible to secure 

 accurate data as to the quantity taken in these waters. These ves- 

 sels return to their home ports as soon as a full fare has been secured. 

 None of the data relating to this fleet have been included in the 

 statistical tables of this report. 



THE HERRING FISHERY. 



Herring are quite abundant at times along the coasts of southeast 

 and central Alaska, and possibly would be found in considerable 

 abundance in western Alaska if the matter were to be looked into 



