ALASKA FISHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES 117 



In central Alaska 10 plants manufactured herring meal and oil, the 

 same number as in the previous year. Five of these plants prepared 

 also the bulk of the Territory's output of Scotch-cured herring. In 

 addition, a small quantity of Scotch-cured herring was produced in 

 connection with salmon pickling in the Kodiak district. The plant of 

 Jolmson Fisheries Co. on Thumb Bay was purchased by the Oceanic 

 Fisheries Co. and operated as the Port Oceanic plant by the new owner. 

 The principal operators in the central district were as follows: 



Saltery and reduction plants: 



Apex Fish Co Port Wakefield. 



Chatham Strait Fish Co Crab Bay. 



Oceanic Fisheries Co., Inc Port Oceanic and Port 



Vita. 



San Juan Fishing & Packing Co Port San Juan. 



Reduction plants: 



Evans Bay Packing Co., Inc Port Benny. 



George Hogg & Co Blue Fox Bay. 



Perfection Fisheries, Inc Thumb Bay.' 



Shepard Point Packing Co Port Ashton. 



Southwestern Herring, Inc Iron Creek. 



The only output reported from western Alaska was a limited amount 

 of Scotch-cured herring and a small quantity of bloater stock by the 

 following operators: 



Campbell & Dougal Dutch Harbor. 



Hoveland & Nesshaug Do. 



Studies concerning the life history and fluctuations in the abundance 

 of the herring populations in Alaska were continued by Edwin H, 

 Dahlgren and an assistant. These studies were carried on in the Chat- 

 ham Strait fishing area of southeast Alaska and in the Prince William 

 Sound and Kodiak areas of central Alaska. 



STATISTICAL SUMMARY 



There were 988 persons engaged in the herring industry in 1937, as 

 compared with 1,111 in 1936. The number of plants decreased from 

 27 to 20. Products of the fishery were valued at $2,891,854, an in- 

 crease of $816,222, or about 39 percent over 1936, when the total value 

 was $2,075,632. Scotcb-cured herring decreased from 11,413,225 

 pounds, valued at $538,211, to 2,098,040 pounds, valued at $107,968, 

 or about 82 percent in quantity and 80 percent in value. Herring for 

 bait decreased from 6,298,105 pounds, valued at $57,200, to 5,238,172 

 pounds, valued at $48,816, or about 17 percent in quantity and 15 

 percent in value. Meal increased about 33 percent in quantity and 

 about 21 percent in value, and oil increased 49 percent in quantity 

 and 122 percent in vahie. 



