FISHERY INDUSTRIES. 57 
not handled at Alaskan ports, going instead either to British Colum- 
bia or Puget Sound ports. The statistical records elsewhere in this 
report show less than 12,000,000 pounds of halibut as credited to 
Alaska in 1916, a decrease of nearly 4,000,000 pounds as compared 
with 1915. Butdt is estimated that about 50 per cent of the entire 
Pacific coast catch in 1916, or upwards of 25,000,000 pounds, repre- 
sents the combined catch of halibut from both extraterritorial and 
intraterritorial waters of Alaska. It is difficult to get precise sta- 
tistics of the exact localities where catches are made, because occa- 
sionally the fishermen fear such information may invite undue com- 
petition. The fishery is prosecuted throughout the year, but it is 
more particularly through the summer and fall and especially in the 
winter that the Alaskan banks are most frequented by the fishermen. 
In the spring there is more activity on the banks off the coast of 
Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. 
Notwithstanding the lessened catch credited to Alaska in 1916, the 
inshore halibut fishery of southeastern Alaska was in a flourishing 
condition during a part of the season, especially in the vicinity of 
Petersburg, where a fleet of small vessels made headquarters, their 
catch being delivered chiefly to the floating cold-storage plant oper- 
ated by the Glacier Fish Co. on the Glory of the Seas. This vessel was 
anchored for some time near that port and subsequently towed to 
Puget-Sound. Also there was considerable shipping of boxed halibut 
from Petersburg to Puget Sound. Other important activities in the 
halibut fishery were prosecuted by the New England Fish Co. and 
the Ketchikan Cold Storage Co., at Ketchikan; the Booth Fisheries 
Co., at Sitka; the Juneau Cold Storage Co., at Juneau; and the Taku 
Canning & Cold Storage Co., at Taku Harbor; all of which companies 
operated cold-storage plants. The largest of these is that of the New 
England Fish Co. at Ketchikan, with a storage capacity of about 
4,000,000 pounds of frozen halibut. Buyers representing Puget 
Sound firms were located at Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and 
Juneau. It is reported that plans are tae definite form for the 
establishment of a large cold-storage plant at Seward for the handling 
of halibut. This seems a wise move, as each year the fishing vessels 
are going farther afield to make their catches, a noteworthy part of 
their operations in Alaskan waters now being conducted on Portlock 
Bank, less than 200 miles from Seward; thus if cold-storage facili- 
ties are provided at Seward or other enn near the principal fishing 
grounds much running time can be saved by the fishing vessels. 
Certain losses were reported in the halibut fishery in 1916. On 
October 6 the halibut steamer Independent (151 tons net), owned and 
operated by the National Independent Fisheries Co., of Seattle, while 
fishing for halibut struck a rock off Middleton Island in central Alaska 
and foundered. The vessel was valued at $50,000. The halibut 
