FISHERY INDUSTRIES. 45 
SALMON BY-PRODUCTS. 
The utilization of waste fishery products in the salmon-canning 
industry is a subject which merits thoughtful consideration. Little 
or no attention was given this matter in Alaska until 1913, when the 
North Pacific Trading & Packing Co. installed a small plant for the 
manufacture of fertilizer and oil from the waste products of its can- 
nery at Klawak. This was the first and has been the only plant of its 
kind operated as a cannery adjunct in Alaska. It appears from re- 
ports that its operation has been successful. In 1914 a company 
designated as the Fish Canners By-Products (Ltd.) built a plant at 
Ward Cove, a few miles from Ketchikan, and installed the necessary 
equipment for the manufacture of oil, fertilizer, edible meal, and other 
products resulting from salmon-canning waste. On account of a 
late start, because of construction work, this company did compara- 
tively little im 1914, but in 1915 operations were conducted along 
extensive lines. The plant was enlarged in 1915, and it is understood 
that it is now capable of handling approximately 200 tons of raw 
material each day. All of the products manufactured by this com- 
pany im 1915 were from salmon-cannery offal exclusively. This 
plant is centrally located in a district where within a radius of 50 
miles there are about 20 salmon canneries. Contracts have been 
entered into with a number of these canneries, and the refuse 
or gurry is saved and transported by the by-products company to 
its plant at Ward Cove. The advantage of this to the cannery- 
man seems obvious, as there is not only a financial return but at the 
same time sanitary conditions around the cannery are improved; 
ordinarily the practice is to allow the waste parts of the fish from the 
canning process to pass through the floor into the water under the 
cannery, for most of the canneries are built on piles at the water’s 
edge or just within the shore line. It will be seen from the foregoing 
that there are two types of plants which may be developed in the 
utilization of waste salmon products: (1) The individual plant located 
at a cannery and operated incidentally to the chief business of can- 
ning salmon, and (2) a central plant to which refuse material from a 
number of canneries is taken, such plant being given over exclusively 
to the manufacture of by-products. 
From information at present available it would seem that both of 
these projects in Alaska have been successful. In some cases can- 
nerymen would no doubt prefer to install their own plants, whereas 
in other instances they would not care to be bothered with a side 
line of this character, preferring to dispose of the offal to a company 
organized specially for the handling of such material. Again, in some 
places the canneries are too widely separated to justify the erection 
of a central plant, as the expense of collecting the raw material is an 
