IXTERXATIOXAL FISHEEIES COMMISSION 6 



Statistics have formed an indispensable part of the facts gathered. 

 They have included not only complete records of landings but of 

 operations at sea. Through "the splendid cooperation of the fishing 

 vessel captains the commission has secured extensive records of the 

 individual catches, from which the yield per unit of fishing effort, 

 the •• skate," has been ascertained for each section of the coast. 

 These cover every season and are for years as far back as 1906. 



Even more important have been the biological studies. These have 

 included the rates of growth according to locality, the migrations, 

 the " races '' existent, and the spawning habits. Material has been 

 collected by the staff, not merely from voyages on fishing vessels but 

 through the operations of vessels chartered for the purpose. Thou- 

 sands of halibut have been caught and released with numbered tags 

 attached and have been recovered from fishermen through rewards 

 offered. From the records thus furnished it has been possible to 

 determine the migrations of the halibut. Extensive studies of the 

 physical characteristics and the groAvth of the different " races " 

 have confirmed such findings. Tlie drift of the eggs and larva? in 

 the open ocean have been stu«lied by means of fine-meshed silk nets 

 and by observation of the currents."^ Tlie results of these biological 

 studies, in conjunction with those from the statistics, form the basis 

 for the conclusions reached in this report. 



IMPORTANCE OF FISHERY 



Fisheries for halibut are prosecuted in the North Pacific and the 

 Nortli Atlantic Oceans, and yield about 90,000.000 ])()imds anmially. 

 The Pacitic halibut fishery, which is covered by the terms of this con- 

 vention, is the greatest in the world. The annual catch exceeds 50,- 

 000,000 pounds, which rej)resents about GOjx'r cent of tlie world's catch. 

 Of the remainder about 30.000,000 are credited to European countries 

 and 6.000,000 to the Atlantic coast of this continent. The value of 

 the Pacific halibut catch to the fishermen is about $7,000,000 an- 

 nually, and it is consequently one of the most important fisheries in 

 North American waters. The Pacific halibut is. thcicfore, one of the 

 most important species of food fishes indigenous to the waters of 

 the North American continent. The halihut-tisheiy hanks of the 

 eastern Pacific are shown in Figuies 1 to 8. The division into areas 

 shown thereon is for statistical i>urposes and should not be confused 

 with those referred to in the commission's recommendations, which 

 will l)e submitted later on. 



COXniTIOX OF FISHERY 



The Pacific halil)ut fishery originated so(m after the first railway 

 communication was estal)lished between the two coasts of the United 

 States. It is, therefore, comparatively young. It had its inception 

 in 1888 near Ca|)e Flattery, at the entrance to Juan de Fuca Strait. 

 The fishery expanded rapidly, and by 1910 it had extended to 



f rounds off Cape Ommaney. liaranof Island, 600 miles to the north, 

 ubsequent exi)ansion has extendetj the fishery until it now covers 

 about 1,800 miles of coast. Formerly as many fish were taken from 



