THE FISHES OF ALASKA. 



233 



IxDiviDU.\L Lengths .\nd Weights of Seventy-oxe P.^cific Herring (Clufe.\ p.\llasiii, T.^ken 



AT Uyak Bay, Alaska, August 4, 1903. 



The herring is now a fish of consideral^le and growing importance in Southeast .Uaska. It is salted 

 to some extent at certain of the salmon canneries, and when so prepared is an excellent article of food. 

 For a number of years great quantities have been used for oil and fertilizer at Killisnoo. Recently it has 

 come to be in gi-eat demand as bait in the halibut fisheries. 



According to Mr. Cobb o , this fish is said to spawn in southeast Alaska in May to July. The grounds are 

 widely distributed from Howkan to Skagway and through ley Straits to Cross Sound. After spawning 

 the fish are said to school out in the deeper water of Frederick Sound and Stephens Passage, and later 

 reenter the bays to feed. During July and August they are filled with "rod feed," and are then very 

 difficult to cure. In September and October their food seems to change and they are then in prime condi- 

 tion. The runs are usually composed of mixed sizes, although in early summer the sizes are said to be 

 uniformly small in some places. 



The herring is one of the chief articles of food of the king s&lmon in the winter and spring in certain 

 parts of Alaska, particularly about Killisnoo, Chilkoot Inlet, and Ketchikan. This was observed during 

 an unusual run of king slamon, which began about the middle of January, 1905, and continued until May 

 18. There is usually a large run of herring in Chilkoot Inlet early in the spring. 



Recorded by Bean (1884) from Sitka; Old Sitka; Port Althorp; Port Mulgrave; Chugachik Bay. 

 Cook Inlet; Iliuliuk, Unalaska: St. Michael; and Port Clarence; and (1882) Wrangell. Unalaska and 

 Herendeen Bay (Gilbert 1895). St. Michael; Unalaska Harbor, and Norton Sound (Nelson 1887). Port 

 Clarence (Scofield 1899). 



o Fisheries o£ Alaska in 1906, Bureau ol Fisheries Document 618, p. 52, 1907. 



