140 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



in bunting" the sea-otter. This was iornieily a very lucrative employ- 

 ment, but the indications are that in future the hunters will have to 

 resort to fishing, and depend more on the necessities of life and less 

 on the luxuries which they have been accustomed to for so many years. 

 Sea-otter are becoming very scarce, and before long some other employ- 

 ment will have to be found. These people are in no danger of starving, 

 even should the sea-otter become exterminated, for fish of various kinds 

 are plentiful and can be caught almost at their doors. 



The next forenoon, July 4, being caught in a dense fog, the ship came 

 to anchor in 7 fathoms of water 4 miles to the westward of Wislow 

 Island, on the nortli shore of Unalaska Island. A hand line was 

 dropped over the side, and in a few minutes several cod were caught. 

 Soon after ten lines were put over, and in an hour's time 49 cod were 

 taken, the average weight of which was 10 pounds, and the average 

 length 30 inches; 26 were males and 23 females. When the lines were 

 first put over there was a continual tugging and biting at the hooks, 

 but at the end of half an hour not a bite could be felt, although the lines 

 remained out for an hour. It is not to be su])posed that all the fish on 

 this ground were caught; it was probably one of those freaks which cod 

 frequently take in all localities by "slacking up," or ceasing to bite 

 when they seem to be the most ravenous. 



Hand-line fishing has been carried on in this locality in times past 

 by the AIMtross, and nearly, if not all, the local places investigated. 

 In most places cod were abundant; scattering halibut were also taken. 



Later in the day we came to anchor in Dutch Harbor. The seine 

 was hauled in a small bay which forms a part of Iliuliuk Harbor, and 

 300 large herring taken ; also a few flounders. Herring visit this bay 

 each season, generally during the months of July and August. They 

 are not numerous, and are seldom seen in large numbers. A dory 

 load is frequently taken, however, but this would )iot be called large 

 by fishermen. There is no place in the Aleutian group known to the 

 writer where herring are sufficiently numerous to warrant the intro- 

 duction of oil works or smokehouses. Southeastern Alaska is the only 

 part of the Territory where herring are plentiful enough for these 

 industries to be successfully carried on. 



On July 13 deep-sea fishing was carried on in 59 fathoms at station 

 3502, in latitude 56° 35' N., longitude 108° 18' W. This trial was 

 made while the ship was stopped in order to make some slight repairs 

 to one of the engines. At first only two lines were put over, and at 

 the end of a half hour 16 cod were caught. Finding that fish were 

 plentiful, 11 more lines were brought into use and fishing carried on 

 for another thirty minutes, at the end of which time 70 cod had been 

 taken. The sexes were nearly equally divided, there being 30 males 

 and 46 females. They were a fine-looking lot of fish, and ipiite iinifoim 

 both in size and weight; average weight, 12 pounds; average length, 

 30 inches. Their livers were large and healthy; much more so, in fact, 

 than usual. Had a fishing vessel been anchored on this spot, she 



