REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 33 



best. It is sometimes necessary to haul the nets in order to prevent 

 their complete destruction. A school of dogfish can in a single night 

 damage a gang of nets sufficiently to keep an entire crew mending for 

 a week. Larger sharks are even more destructive when in any con- 

 siderable numbers, and not onl\ r tear the nets in their endeavors to 

 reach the captured mackerel, but entangle themselves in such a way 

 that they can scarcely be extricated without serious injury to the nets. 

 The profits of the gill-net fishing may be largely measured by the pres- 

 ence or absence of these marauders during a season. For a number of 

 years some of the larger vessels were compelled to abandon gill nets 

 entirely and relied upon seines alone. 



Both gill nets and purse seines are particularly well adapted to the 

 mackerel fishery, but from an economic viewpoint it would seem that 

 small vessels are better suited for dragging than large ones. The 

 large vessels that have given up gill nets are few compared with the 

 number of small craft that have adopted them, and the present indi- 

 cations are that dragging for mackerel will continue to be the chief 

 method of capture by many vessels of this class. 



Improvements in salmon canneries. — During the past decade great 

 improvements have been made in the salmon canneries throughout 

 Alaska. Large and well-lighted buildings have taken the place of 

 low, small, and inferior ones; kerosene lamps have given way to elec- 

 tric lights in many instances, and other improvements have been intro- 

 duced from time to time as the industry expanded; buildings, machin- 

 ery, and nearly everything connected with the business have undergone 

 a complete change. 



All buildings connected with the salmon fishery are erected close to 

 the water's edge, in order that the catch may be landed at the door of 

 the cannery with one handling and to facilitate the loading of the 

 ships at the end of the season. The early canneries were divided into 

 spaces for storing nets, boats, lumber, boxes, cans, and other material, 

 only a portion of the building being utilized for canning purposes. 

 Most canneries now have separate storehouses, or are large enough 

 to accommodate the material which is to be kept under cover without 

 infringing upon the working room in the cannery proper. Besides 

 the buildings formerly considered requisite, several more — such as 

 blacksmith, machine, and boat shops, also a box factory and labeling 

 room — are now counted indispensable to a first-class cannery. 



The introduction of improved machinery and the much greater 

 demand for salmon led to the installation of additional lines of 

 machinery, until, from the one and two lines that were formerly con- 

 sidered sufficient, the number has gradually increased until six or 

 seven lines are now used in some canneries. For the early canneries 

 20,000 cases in a season was an average pack; the improved machinery 

 doubled the capacity of such canneries, and the installation of more 

 1082—06 3 



