30 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



LOSSES AND DISASTERS 



Reported property losses in the Alaska fisheries in 1935 amounted 

 to $178,784, a large part of which represented the destruction of the 

 Pioneer Sea Foods Co. cannery at the mouth of Eyak River by fire 

 on November 29. In addition to the loss of the building and equip- 

 ment, amounting to $115,000, boats valued at $35,000 that had been 

 stored in the cannery were destroyed. A purse seine boat of the 

 Grimes Packing Co., valued at $4,500, was burned at the dock at 

 Uzinki as the result of an explosion in the galley range. Other losses 

 consisted chiefly of miscellaneous small boats and fishing apparatus 

 and amounted to $8,798 in southeast, $13,049 m central, and $2,437 

 in western Alaska. 



Fourteen lives were lost, as follows: Four fishermen and two shores- 

 men were drowned, one fisherman and four shoresmen died of dis- 

 ease, and one fisherman and two shoresmen were killed in accidents. 



STATISTICS 



Ninety-nine canneries were operated in Alaska in 1935, or 11 less 

 than in the previous year. Employment was given to 17,529 per- 

 sons, as compared vrith 21,654 in 1934, a decrease of 4,125. "Wliite 

 employees decreased 1,994, Chinese 471, Japanese 362, Filipinos 605, 

 Mexicans 703, Negroes 24, and miscellaneous (Kanakas, Koreans, 

 Puerto Ricans, etc.) 36; while natives increased 70. 



The total pack of canned salmon was 5,133,122 cases, valued at 

 $25,768,136. This is a decrease of 31 percent both in quantity and 

 value from the production in 1934, when the pack amounted to 7,481,- 

 830 cases, valued at $37,611,950. The output in southeast Alaska 

 decreased from 3,295,093 cases to 3,054,038 cases, or 7 percent; in 

 central Alaska from 2,327,418 cases to 1,802,231 cases, or about 23 

 percent; and in western Alaska from 1,859,319 cases to 276,853 cases, 

 or 85 percent. By species, in Alaska as a whole, the pack of cohos 

 decreased from 236,117 cases in 1934 to 190,177 cases in 1935, or 19 

 percent; pinks, from 3,824,193 cases to 3,244,066 cases, or 15 percent; 

 kings, from 52,863 cases to 36,405 cases, or 31 percent; and reds, 

 from 2,628,016 cases to 809,546 cases, or 69 percent; while the pack 

 of chums increased from 740,641 cases to 852,928 cases, or 15 percent. 



Details are included in the following tables to show comparison of 

 the 1935 pack wdth the average for the 5 preceding years, 1930 to 

 1934, by cases of each species and by districts. Pink salmon and 

 chums show gains over the 5-year average, but these gains are offset 

 by declines in cohos, kings, and reds, especially the last. It is note- 

 worthy, however, that the pack of red salmon was not very far below 

 that of the corresponding cyclical year of 1930, notwithstanding the 

 greater curtailment of commercial fishing in the Bristol Bay region. 

 By districts, the pack in 1935 increased about 17 percent over the 

 5-year average in southeast Alaska and 3 percent in the central dis- 

 trict, while in western Alaska there was a decrease of about 79 per- 

 cent, making a net decrease of nearly 10 percent from the 5-yeai 

 average for all of Alaska. 



