flSHEKY INDUSTRIES. 



37 



only result has been a further demonstration of the illogicalness of 

 founding a commercial enterprise upon suppositious conclusions. 

 Perhaps one-tenth the amount lost in this speculation, properly 

 apphed to an inquiry into the natural history of salmon, would have 

 demonstrated the fallacy of the methods employed, if not even of the 

 propositions themselves. The only fact developed is that hump- 

 back salmon do not necessarily return to the parent stream. This 

 stream has been consistently fenced to the humpbacks since the initi- 

 ation of the experiment in 1892, but the number reaching the stream 

 in late j^ears has shown no diminution beyond that of other streams 

 in the same region. The irregular fishing for red salmon carried on 

 in the inlet to which the hatchery stream is tributary deprives the 

 figures as to the hatch of all value. 



GENERAL STATISTICS OF ALASKA FISHERIES FOR 1912. 



Of the S38,263,457 invested in all Alaska fisheries in 1912, nearly 

 90 per cent represents the salmon industry. Excluding the cod and 

 halibut fisheries, in order to secure a proper basis for comparison with 

 the previous year, it is found that there was an increase of $13,281,346 

 over 1911, the result of the phenomenal prices brought by the cheaper 

 grades of the pack of that season. 



Summary op Investments in the Fisheries of Alaska in 1912. 



Industries. 



Southeast 

 Alaska. 



Central 

 Alaska. 



Western 

 Alaska. 



Total. 



Salmon cann ing 



Salmon pickling 



Salmon mild curing , 



Herring fishery 



Halibut fishery 



Cod fishery 



Whale fishery. ...... 



$13,267,304 



54,760 



314,072 



336, 860 



2,027,250 



$7,462,261 



133, 195 



11,215 



2,030 



8,800 



274, 674 



$13,029,730 

 199, 610 

 875 



$33,759,295 

 387,565 

 326, 152 

 338, 890 

 2,036,050 

 274,674 

 1,140,831 



Total. 



38,263,457 



Summary of Persons Engaged in the Fisheries of Alaska in 1912. 



