8 HALIBUT FISHING GROUNDS OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



the fish, and cases are known where the men have been flung bodily 

 from the dory by a sea, the dory turned bottom up, and the men 

 forced to cling to the bottom of the boat until rescued by the steamer 

 or another boat. In the last 18 years about 12 men have been drowned 

 in this industry. It is now the practice of some fishermen to wear 

 life vests. 



After the dorias have been put overboard the steamer cruises 

 among them, and those on board keep a lookout. The system of 

 signals makes it possible to render assistance promptly when needed. 



The crew of steamers engaged in the halibut fishery receive 1 

 cent a pound for the catch, and their labor includes cleaning and 

 icing the fish and doing such work on the fishing gi'ound as may 

 be required. On arriving in port they are expected to discharge the 

 cargo, pack the halibut in boxes^ and place them in freight cars; 

 refit the vessel for another trip, taking in ice, bait, stores of all kinds, 

 and performing the necessai-y w^ork pertaining to the voyage; and 

 stand a regular watch while on the passage either to or from the 

 banks. 



The owners keep the vessel in good condition and furnish dories, 

 trawls, buoys, anchors, ice, bait, and food. They take possession 

 of the catch as soon as it is landed, settling with the crew on the 

 return trip. 



The captain of a halibut steamer receives $125 a month and a 

 commission of 5 cents a hundred pounds for fish landed; first mate, 

 $100 a month; second mate, $100; engineers (two), from $125 to 

 $150; firemen, two or three generally being employed, $50; cook, 

 $100; deck hands, from two to four, $45. 



Gasoline schooners and sailing vessels furnish dories only and take 

 one-fifth of the gross stock of all fish caught. The expenses for 

 food, water, fishing gear, bait, ice, gasoline, etc., are deducted from 

 the remaining four-fifths and the balance equally divided among the 

 crew, including the captain and cook. The master sometimes receives 

 a commission. 



When halibut trawls w^ere first introduced on the Pacific coast little 

 or no attention was paid to the kind or quality of bait used for the 

 capture of halibut, it having been found that cod, salted herring, 

 flounders, sculpins, and various other species could be utilized. In 

 a few years, however, fishermen began to notice that the best results 

 w^ere obtained with carefully selected bait, and soon thereafter it 

 was found that halibut would soon bite on " gurry " bait, accepting 

 preferably fresh herring, squid, or other bait. At the present time 

 halibut fishermen of the Pacific coast depend largely upon fresh bait, 

 and their demands are annually increasing. A cold-storage plant 

 at Ketchikan, Alaska, has been supplying a large portion of the hali- 

 but fleet with bait during the last few years, and it is very probable 



