PACIFIC HALIBUT FISHERIES 11 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 38a 



the way and reaching Ucluelet in time to spend a couple of nights there and to return 

 by the mail launch Tofino to Port Alberni. On July 14, Little George took his net 

 down the inlet to catch viviparous perches (Embiotocidse) for bait, as it was too foggy 

 to look for octopus. He gave me to understand that these perches are nearly as 

 attractive as octopus for halibut. Large octopus or devilfish are worth two dollars 

 apiece, or 25 cents for each arm. If salted they can be kept for as much as six 

 months; and a single baiting may account for a dozen halibut, th's luing their 

 favourite, as well as their toughest natural food. Next to octopus tha best b^it for 

 native halibut hooks is salmon. In the afternoon they came for me in a fine new 

 sailing canoe, bringing a long line with seventy hooks. We took provisions on board 

 and left Clayoquot at 4 p.m., arriving at an Indian reservation on Long Beach, 

 distant 9 miles, about 8 p.m. 



After landing at Long Beach they cut the fish into shacks, discarding heads and 

 offal, and baited the hooks ready for the morning, littering the ground with the young. 

 There were two species, a smaller and a larger. I examined a specimen of each : the 

 one contained eight young, the other twenty-two, all ready for birth. We spent the 

 night in the Indian house, and the men went off at 4 a.m. to try for halibut. I was 

 expecting that they would go out to a halibut bank well known to them, called T'nch- 

 ken, which lies 4 miles to the southwest from the northern point of Long Beach bay, 

 but they returned at 6.35 a.m., reporting too much wind outside, and bringing two 

 dogfish and two skates (Raja hinoculata). The continual strong head wind obliged 

 us to abandon the exploration of T'ach-ken, and we left Long Beach at 10.30 a.m. 

 At noon we made a set in 20 fathoms at a position 1 mile from the Indian house. 

 After fifty minutes the line was hauled in and the bait was found to be untouched. 

 They said the water was too dirty ; moreover the southwest wind was increasing and 

 the sea was getting heavy and very choppy. It was a fair wind for Ucluelet, and open 

 water all the way ; the men were masters of their craft, and we reached Ucluelet with- 

 out mishap at five o'clock. 



At the entrance to the Ucluelet arm of Barkley sound, there was a flo,ating scow 

 which served as a fish-market, where halibut was received in order to be transported 

 to the Uchucklesit cold storage on the Alberni canal. There is a brisk fishery con- 

 ducted by owners of small gasolene launches and Indian canoes. I went alongside a 

 fishing launch which had just come in with a load of halibut on July 16 and purchased 

 the largest one there. The total length was 44 inches ; weight, 36 pounds ; the scales 

 with nine narrow zones indicating an age of 10 years; stomach containing crab 

 remains. The ovaries presented a congested and spent appearance, but after pre- 

 servation they were found to be in a state of regeneration, with multitudes of growing 

 eggs. Probably spawning had taken place in the winter or early spring. As usual, 

 the anterior half of the body was infested with ectoparasitic flukes; these are com- 

 monly found on the white side of the body, but in this case they occurred on both 

 sides. They belong to the same species as those infesting the skin of the Atlantic 

 halibut, viz., Epihdella hippoglossi. The halibut banks in this district lie 8 to 12 

 miles outside the Ucluelet arm. On this occasion it W|as perfectly clear weather in 

 the harbour, but foggy outside. I was informed (and I know it is true for July) that 

 fogs prevail in July and August, gales in December and January, the two last being 

 critical months in the life-history of the halibut. Thus the investigation in these 

 waters is beset with all kinds of difficulties. Close to the floating scow mentioned 

 above, stands the life-boat station on a point of land, and adjoining this there is a 

 wooded islet with a ruined house on it which, if repaired, would answer well as a 

 temporary biological station. 



On July 23 I called on Dr. Charles Francis Newcombe at Victoria who showed me 

 the utmost kindness, and put such of his vast stores of learning as I was able to 

 assimilate at my disposal. In his company I inspected the collection of Indian halibut 

 hooks and floats at the Provincial Museum. Mr. Ashdown Green, a veteran surveyor 

 and pioneer of British Columbia, told us that he had seen ornamental of ceremonial 



