ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1924 139 



Persons engaged, investment, and products of Alaska cod industry in 1924 



WHALES 



In the whaling industry of Alaska in 1924, employment was given 

 to 117 whites and 17 natives. The investment, covering value of 

 plant, vessels, wages, and other operating charges, was S460,311. 

 Operations, which began somewhat later than in the previous 

 year, were carried on in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea 

 upon approximately the same scale as heretofore. The total catch 

 amounted to 148 finbacks, 71 humpbacks, 46 sulphur bottoms, 17 

 sperm, and 1 right whale. The total catch in the previous season was 

 355. Products were 554,500 gallons of body oil, valued at S305,000; 

 78,700 gallons of sperm oil, valued at $31,480; 2,189,120 pounds of 

 fertilizer, valued at S47,551; 1,500 pounds of whalebone, valued at 

 $1,500; and 200,000 pounds of pickled whale tails, valued at $6,250. 

 The latter product is understood to have been prepared particularly 

 for the oriental trade. The total value of products in 1924 was 

 $391,781, as compared with $388,681 in 1923, an increase of $3,100. 

 The North Pacific Sea Products Co. operated throughout the season 

 at Akutan in western Alaska. 



CLAMS 



Dr. F. W. Weymouth, of Stanford University, assisted by H. C, 

 McMiUin, continued his investigation of the clam beds of Alaska^ 

 which was undertaken in 1923, and a special report on the work has 

 been published (Bureau of Fisheries Doc. No. 984). Careful study 

 was made of the beds in the vicinty of Cordova and at Snug Harbor, 

 Cook Inlet, and Kukak Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. 



The beds at Cordova show the effects of the intensive digging 

 carried on since 1916 in the small average size of the clams taken and 



