14 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1917. 



prices at noon for fresh halibut, sablefish, and red rockfish; (2) 

 inclusion with the Seattle quotations on Monday of each week the 

 prices of pickled sablefish, salmon, and herring; and (3) furnishing 

 irom Ketchikan local information, corresponding to that furnished 

 from Seattle, to the other Alaska towns supplied with the Seattle 

 quotations. 



The purpose of this service is to keep the fishermen in touch with 

 market conditions that they may dispose of their catches more 

 profitably and thereby be induced to increase the production of fish. 

 The service has met with general favor. 



PATROL BOATS. 



With the development of the fishery resources of Alaska from 

 year to year, new localities are fished and new canneries and other 

 fishery estabhshments are built. With each extension of activities, 

 the territory that must be patrolled by the field agents of the Bureau 

 is increased, but the facilities for covering the various districts remain 

 extremely inadequate. Until 1917, the Osprey (23 tons) was the 

 only Government boat engaged in a patrol of the fisheries of Alaska, 

 being assigned to the southeastern district. In October, 1916, this 

 vessel was brought to Seattle for repairs and did not return to Alaskan 

 waters until January, 1918. 



In December, 1916, a contract was made for the construction of 

 two patrol boats, each to be 48 feet in length, 12^ feet in breadth, 

 and equipped with a 25-30 horsepower heavy-duty Standard engine. 

 These boats, the Murre and Auklet, were completed and put in com- 

 mission in July, 1917, and immediately proceeded to Alaska, where 

 they were engaged in patrol work during the remainder of the season. 

 They are of plain and substantial construction similar to the sea- 

 worthy type of purse-seine boat familiar to the Pacific coast. 



The schooner Nimrod (8 tons) was chartered for work along the 

 central coast of Alaska from Cook Inlet to False Pass during the 

 summer months. The launches Angelus and Buzzard were chartered 

 at different times for use in patrol work on Prince WiUiam Sound. 

 A small launch was hired also tor brief service in the Nushagak region. 



The representatives of the Alaska service in central and western 

 Alaska are not able to cover the districts to which they are assigned 

 without some assistance from the canning companies. As usual, 

 several of the companies furnished free transportation to the agents 

 in those districts. Were it not for these gratuities, much of the terri- 

 tory could not be visited, as suitable boats can not be chartered. 

 Gratuitous service of this character is wrong in principle, but until 

 Congress provides additional funds for more vessels, there appears to 

 be no alternative in the case of those employees of the Bureau who 

 are called to certain remote and inaccessible regions. 



VIOLATIONS OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS. 



Prosecutions for violations of the fishery laws and regulations were 

 made for disregard of the weekly close season, for the operation of 

 gear within the prohibited distance of other gear, and for failure to 

 provide pound nets with distinctive signs whereby ownership could 

 DC determined. 



