INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ALBATROSS. 141 



undoubtedly would have had excellent fishing, for at the end of the 

 trial the lish were being caught "pair and pair." 



The result of this fishing trial was somewhat different from one made 

 in August, 1893, in latitude 56° 34' K, longitude 167° 9' W. On 

 this occasion only 2 cod were caught. The scarcity of cod here was 

 attributed to the ground being close to the Pribilof Islands. This, no 

 doubt, was true at the time the trial was made, but this theory is not 

 tenable now, for it will be found by looking on the chart that the 

 ground where the last trial was made is comparatively near the above- 

 mentioned islands. As a rule, each season the main body of the seal 

 herd change tlieir feeding-grounds, and where cod and other bottom 

 species are found in plenty one year, it may be almost barren of life 

 the next, for as soon as seals arrive and have selected some particular 

 I>lace for a feeding-ground economic bottom fish grow scarce or leave 

 altogether, and do not appear again uutil most of tlie seals have lett 

 the sea. 



In early spring, before the arrival of seals, cod are plentiful on all 

 the local fishing-grounds in the vicinity of the Pribilof Islands, but 

 later in the season hardly any fish are to be found on these grounds 

 except scattering halibut. Late in the fall, after most of the seals 

 have migrated south and before the ice forms, cod come in from out- 

 lying banks and are caught by the natives of the islands uutil pre- 

 vented from doing so by the ice and stormy weather. It is not known 

 whether cod remain about the Pribilofs after the ice appears in large 

 quantities, there being no way of finding out after the fall is well 

 advanced. Keither is it known whether or not cod remain on the 

 banks in other parts of Bering Sea. The natives of Alaska are as 

 little enlightened on this subject as anyone, and are indifferent about 

 the whole matter, owing to the fact that their wants are supplied with 

 but little etfort on their part. The migratory habits of cod or halibut 

 do not seemingly enter the minds of these people. 



The writer has conversed, from time to time, with fishermen regard- 

 ing the matter, but the knowledge they possess threw but little light 

 on the subject. I am informed that dead cod are frequently seen in 

 winter scattered along the coast on the Bering Sea side of the Alaskan 

 Peninsula; but, so far as I have been able to learn, no attempt has 

 ever been made to carry on fishing at this season on any of the banks 

 along the Aleutian Islands or in Bristol Bay. That cod are much more 

 numerous on the fishing banks off the Sannak and Shumagin Islands 

 in winter than in summer is due, no doubt, to a large portion of the 

 school leaving Bering Sea and repairing to these grounds. This is the 

 generally accepted theory of most fishermen belonging to the above- 

 named islands. It is very probable that this theory is correct, for while 

 it is perfectly naturjil for cod to seek water of a low temjjerature, it is 

 not, however, likely that they would long remain in a region where the 

 water is chilled to an unusual degree by heavy masses of ice. This 

 supposition is not substantiated by knowledge possessed concerning 

 the winter habits of the Bering Sea cod. 



