PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES 



689 



In the "Pacific Fisherman" (February, 1917), Seattle, Wash., 

 its Hakodate (Japan) correspondent reports the following particulars 

 of the 1916 salmon season: 



During the year 1916 the salmon catches in the States of Kamchatka and 

 Okhotsk, Siberia, varied greatly according to districts. On the west coast of 

 Kamchatka and Okiiotsk there was a t)ig run all season, but the run on the east 

 coast of Kamchatka was extremely poor, except in the Kamchatka River. The 

 distribution of salmon varieties is always limited to about the following districts: 



Chums are present in large quantities on the east coast of Kamchatka and 

 Okhotsk, but on the west coast of Kamchatka they are never plentiful. 



Red salmon are almost entirely limited to two districts, the Kamchatka and 

 Ozernaya Rivers, being very scarce in other districts. 



Humpbacks are found all along the coast, but most especially in the district of 

 Boliskreska [Bolsheryetzk], where there is always a large run. 



Silver salmon are found in small quantities on the west and east coasts of Kam- 

 chatka at certain seasons of every year. 



King salmon are present in very limited quantities, early in the season on the 

 west and east coast of Kamchatka. 



There were 17 canneries operated in 1916, and they packed about 470,000 

 cases. There were 218 fishing places on the shores, and the number of salmon 

 caught during the season was 94,582,228. 



All the salmon packers and fishermen in Siberia have used steamers for the 

 transportation of their goods for several years past, but owing to the high rates 

 now prevailing on steamer tonnage they were obliged again to make use of sailing 

 vessels. Prices of all equipment and outfits for the canneries and salting stations 

 were from 30 per cent to 50 per cent higher than for the previous year, but as a 

 result of the strong demand for salmon products due to the European war, all 

 the markets are in good condition. Accordingly, preparations for the coming 

 season are expected to be on a more extensive scale, both as to number and size 

 of canneries and development of the fisheries. 



The above statement is accompanied by the following estimate of the number 

 of salmon caught in 1916 in the States of Kamchatka and Okhotsk, except in the 

 rivers: 



FREEZING SALMON 



As when the Russians owned Alaska, the exploitation of Siberia 

 was carried on for many years by trading companies with large 

 powers granted by the Government. In 1892 a very enterprising 

 company was in charge, judging from the following extract from a 

 letter written on February 2, 1893, by the late Eugene G. Blackford, 

 the well-known fish dealer of New York, to the late Col. Marshall 

 McDonald, then United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries: 



I have just learned of the arrival in Chicago of 60,000 pounds of frozen salmon. 

 They were caught in Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka. These fish are a new venture 

 undertaken by a commercial trading company who control that country, and these 

 salmon have been taken from a river where none have been caught before, and my 

 information is that they catch fish weighing as much as 150 pounds each. The 

 above lot of fish was brought frozen to Tacoma and then shipped by refrigerator 

 car to Chicago, where they were sold to Mr. Booth, of the Booth Packing Co., 

 Chicago. Mr. Booth has declined to pay for them because of their not being in 

 satisfactory condition. 



