48 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



considerable fishery was developing in Alaska. The sablefish is 

 abundant along the entire Pacific coast north of San Francisco, and 

 it is beheved that it is destined to afford a very important food supply 

 to the country. 



A similar undertaking in respect to the burbot was inaugurated 

 about the time of the opening of the Great Lakes fisheries in April. 

 The burbot, which is a fresh-water member of the cod family, is an 

 abundant fish of the large bodies of water of the northern part of the 

 United States, and not only has been neglected as a food resource 

 but on account of its predaceous habits is destructive of other food 

 fishes. Effective cooperation was established with a number of 

 the principal wholesale fish dealers at Great Lakes ports, and about 

 500,000 pounds of burbot were marketed by them between April 1 

 and June 30. This fish is generally sold skinned, eviscerated, and 

 headless; and as the price is low it affords an economical food 

 supply of good c[uality. 



Experiments in smoking various species of fresh-water fish, begun 

 at the Fairport station some two years ago, have yielded interesting 

 residts. The bowfin or grindle, which is usually regarded as practi- 

 cally worthless, has been found to yield a very superior product when 

 properly smoked. Everyone who has sampled the product has tes- 

 tified to the excellent texture and flavor of the meat and some pro- 

 nounce it the best of smoked fish. The bowfin is generally known 

 through the Mississippi Basin as dogfish or grindle. It is an abundant 

 form m the Great Lakes and in sluggish waters from Minnesota and 

 New York to Florida and Texas. The proper utilization of this 

 species will not only add another commercial product to the market 

 but will tend to reduce the relative abundance of a species which is 

 most predatory upon the other fishes that are more highly valued in 

 the fresh state. 



EXPLOITATION OF ALASKAN FISHERY RESOURCES. 



An innovation in the Alaska field and a contribution to food pre- 



garedness has been the comprehensive campaign inaugurated by the 

 iUreau to encourage the utihzation of fishery products heretofore 

 more or less neglected. At the same time attention has been directed 

 particularly toward the packing of herring by the Scotch method, 

 which heretofore has not been attempted in Alaska, all herring for 

 food purposes having been preserved by the more simple Norwegian 

 method. The Bureau secured the services of a recognized authority 

 in the curing of Scotch herring and sent him to Alaska in the spring 

 of 1917. Three special assistants, graduates of the fishery school of 

 the University of Washington, were employed by the Bureau to 

 accompany the expert and acquire all information possible in regard 

 to the improved methods. Several of the regular employees of the 

 Alaska service also were detailed to learn these new methods, so as 

 to be able to instruct the fishermen. 



Very gratifying results have followed this campaign, as the fishery 

 interests have shown a marked interest and a desire to give practical 

 effect to the Bureau's work. The herring fishery of Alaska has not 

 been developed to anything like the extent of its possibilities, and as 

 a result of the interest manifested by the trade it is probable that the 

 product in 1917 will be more than double that of any previous season. 



