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62 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1918. 
assistance to the Ohm Fish & Packing Co., at Sheep Point, and to 
the Carlisle Packing Co., Franklin Packing Co., and Haynes Fisheries, 
all three plants being at Port Ashton or Sawmill Bay. Late in the 
year Mr. Studdert went to Halibut Cove, where some 15 operators 
were engaged in packing herring, three of whom, the Kachemak 
Saltery & Canning Co., the Alaska Sea Food Products Co., and 
Keith McCullough, were interested in and made considerable packs 
of Scotch-cured herring. 
When the 1918 pack began to arrive in Seattle, it was found that 
in several instances packers had been careless in their work, and that 
a faulty product which could hardly be marketed was the result. 
This carelessness manifested itself in poor and loose packing, insuffi- 
cient salting, oversalting, and improper grading. Packers were 
therefore notified that herring branded as Scotch cured must meet 
certain known requirements in order to be acceptable to the trade 
and comply with the provisions of the pure food and drug act in 
regard to branding. Consideration is bemg given to an inspection 
service under Government auspices to pass upon the quality of herring 
landed at Seattle. 
The great expansion of the herring industry in Alaska as a direct 
consequence of the exploitation work of 1917 in introducing the 
Scotch cure extended also to the operations of packers who preferred 
to follow the Norwegian cure, as increased activities in the one direc- 
tion also stimulated production in the other. 
Herring fishing in southeastern Alaska and in the Prince William 
Sound district of central Alaska is principally by means of purse 
seines. Fish of all sizes are thus taken. Since there are limitations 
upon the size of herring which may be pickled for food, it naturally 
follows that a considerable quantity of small fish are taken which can 
not be used and are therefore thrown away. In the aggregate thou- 
sands of barrels of herring are thus destroyed. Where herring are 
taken in purse seines it would seem that this loss is unavoidable 
unless they are impounded, thus enabling the removal and segregation, 
by gill netting in the pounds, of those of proper sizes for pickling. 
The small fish would pass through the nets and could be released 
after the larger ones are removed. The practicability of this manner 
of sorting herring has not been demonstrated successfully as yet, but 
experienced herring operators raise no special objection thereto 
where herring are held in bights or small coves. Herring are taken 
in Halibut Cove with gill nets. By using nets of proper mesh, the 
taking of small fish is reduced to a minimum. Probably very little 
waste occurs here as the herring are uniformly large in the locality. 
STATISTICAL SUMMARY. 
The herring industry of Alaska shows an investment of $1,802,817 
in 1918, as compared with $562,002 in 1917, or a gain of 220 per 
cent. The number of persons employed was 884, as compared with 
214 in 1917. The value of the products was $1,819,538, as against 
$767,729, an increase of $1,051,809 over 1917. This shows a material 
development of the herring fishery of Alaska. It is alae! 
interesting to note that the chief product was the Scotch-cured 
herring, of which the equivalent of 38,977 full Scotch barrels, or 
9,744,175 pounds, was packed. The pack of Norwegian-cured 
herring exceeds all previous records, a total of 8,968,515 pounds, or 
the equivalent of 49,842 barrels, having been produced in 1918. 
