REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 151 



have caught and sold many specimens, but of this there is no direct proof. From 

 what can be learned it would seem that the lobsters planted here were either caught 

 before they had time to increase, or the character of the bottom and general 

 surroundings was not suited to them for propagating. 



No traces of the lobsters planted off Trinidad, Cal.. have ever been found. The 

 fishermen of that locality have made diligent search for them with such appliances 

 as they had, but to no purpose. Captain Nichols, in charge of the Light-Honso 

 Board of California, has had lobster pots made and set on and near the spots where 

 they were planted. This kind of apparatus has also met with negative results. 



In view of the fact that nearly five years have passed since the planting was 

 made, it is very probable that the water and general surroundings of this locality 

 are not conducive to their growth. A few lobsters planted off tbo coast washed by 

 so vast an ocean as the Pacific can not be considered a fair test; 302 lobsters, the 

 number planted, would naturally in a few days become more or less scattered, and 

 the sexes widely separated and perhaps never get together again. 



It is frequently stated that a lobster ought to live in a water where crayfish are 

 found. This can hardly be expected, for crayfish are never found as far north as 

 Monterey Bay, which proves conclusively that they require warmer water than a 

 lobster, and in all probability they would not live off the New England coast. 



The geographical position, temperature of water, and general character of the 

 bottom in many parts of Alaska are, in the opinion of the writer, much bettersuited 

 to the requirements of the lobster than that part of the coast lying below or south 

 of Capo Flattery. The whole archipelago of southeastern Alaska contains many 

 places where the lobster would be more likely to lives and multiply than any other 

 place on the Pacific Coast. 



The temperature and other environments of this region correspond more closely to 

 the home of the lobster on the Atlantic Coast. It is quite evident that lobsters require 

 a change in temperature of water far greater than they would find off the Pacific 

 Coast below 50° N. latitude, from the fact that they are only found in latitudes 

 where the water undergoes such a change. 



The coast of southeastern Alaska is cut up into hundreds of islands both largo and 

 small, forming numerous bays, channels, and estuaries very similar to the coast of 

 Maine and some parts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. From Massachusetts to 

 the Gulf of ^t. Lawrence is where the lobster abounds in greatest numbers, and in 

 this region the water in summer is comparatively warm and in winter extremely 

 cold, elements perfectly congenial to this crustacean. In Alaska the water annually 

 undergoes, to a much less degree, the change which takes place in the latitudes 

 above mentioned. All things considered, no great mistake would be made in plant- 

 ing lobsters in the waters of southeastern Alaska. The harbor of Sitka would be an 

 excellent place to try the experiment; also at Hooniali. There are many localities 

 equally as good above Prince of Wales Island, viz: Howkan, Nichols Bay, and 

 Shakan; or at Loring, Revillagigedo Island, and several more points farther up the 

 Behm Canal. 



Tlie canvass of the whale fishery carried on from San Francisco by 

 Suit Francisco and New Bedford vessels disclosed a fleet of 40 vessels 

 in 1893. In comparatively recent years San Francisco has attained 

 leading importance as a whaling center. The scarcity of whales in the 

 Atlantic Ocean and the relative abundance of the valuable bowhead 

 whales in the North Pacific and Arctic oceans have led to the transfer 

 of a number of New Bedford vessels, which, with the local fleet, have 

 made San Francisco the principal rendezvous for whaling vessels in the 

 United States. 



The fleet consisted of 35 vessels belonging in San Francisco and 14 

 others owned in New Bedford. The tonnage of the combined fleet was 

 13,910 net tons, and the value was $1,702,360. Thirteen of the vessels 



