FISHERY INDUSTRIES. 61 



The fact that most of the halibut are now caught farther offshore 

 has resulted in a decline in the small power boat fishery. Reference 

 is had in particular to the considerable number of small craft under 5 

 tons manned by Indians and others that fished the more protected 

 inshore waters. Larger boats with more extensive equipment are 

 needed for open-sea fishing. 



The floatmg warehouses which have been used at Scow Bay for 

 handling catches of halibut were last winter moved to Petersburg. 

 This place is several miles nearer the fishing grounds and is a con- 

 venient point for shipment by way of the regular steamship lines. 

 It is also convenient by reason of its accessibility to an almost unlim- 

 ited supply of glacier ice, free for the taking. This feature has like- 

 wise helped to make Juneau a popular halibut center. At Ketchikan 

 artificial ice has been available at nominal cost, and since no time is 

 lost in handling, is probably as cheap in the long run as ice from the 

 glaciers. 



The strike of halibut fishermen on the steamers, also a succession of 

 storms which kept the smaller craft in port much of the time, greatly 

 lessened the receipts of halibut during November and December. A 

 great increase in price resulted, as much as 10 cents per pound being 

 paid for some fares before the end of the year. The effort to man 

 the steamers with fishermen imported from the East did not prove 

 successful. 



The lack of bait has at times been a serious problem in the halibut 

 industry. The solution seems to lie in freezing a sufficient quantity 

 during the winter months when herring are plentiful to last throughout 

 the season. Frozen bait is as good in every way as fresh bait. The 

 use of salt bait has never been satisfactory. 



The schooner Metha Nelson (399 tons) was operated again this 

 year, in the vicinity of Kodiak Island, as a floating cold-storage plant. 

 Although the eruption of Mount Katmai on June 6 interfered with the 

 work, a good catch of halibut was frozen for delivery at San Fran- 

 cisco. During the summer the Welding and Independent Fisheries 

 Co. operated the ship William H. Smith in southeast Alaska as a 

 combination floating cannery and cold-storage plant. In addition 

 to canning salmon, both halibut and salmon were frozen. The Taku 

 Canning & Cold Storage Co., located at Taku Harbor, engaged in 

 freezing halibut in addition to its principal business of canning salmon. 

 This concern has two sharp freezers and storage capacity for about 

 half a million pounds of halibut. 



The Revilla Fish Products Co. was engaged at Ketchikan for the 

 first time this year in the canning of special fishery products, among 

 which was an attractive article designated as deviled haUbut. This 

 was made from halibut, cereals, and other materials. The com- 

 pany also put up a few cases of canned halibut, as well as salmon 

 products, the latter being shown elsewhere in this report. 



