FISHERY INDUSTRIES. 51 
Asa result of another year’s work carried on as suggested above it should be possible 
to determine quite aceurately the damage done by seals in southeastern Alaska, the 
best methods of destroying them, and with some degree of accuracy the probable cost 
ofsuch work. Further and more accurate determination of the extent of their damage 
would show the importance of destroying them and the maximum amount which it 
would be profitable to expend to accomplish this end. 
THE HALIBUT FISHERY. 
The halibut fishery in Alaskan waters is next in importance to the 
salmon industry. Although some may regard the salmon industry as 
having reached that mark beyond which further progress under pres- 
ent conditions may not be particularly great, it is certain that the 
halibut fishery has by no means approached the maximum of its 
productivity. Some of the banks in British Columbia waters which 
for years have yielded a rich return of halibut are beginning to show 
signs of depletion. It is therefore to waters contiguous to the Alaskan 
coast that efforts must be directed chiefly in further expansions of 
the industry. The total production of halibut from Pacific waters 
northward from Oregon to Alaska in 1915 was approximately 65,000,- 
000 pounds, whereas the banks of the Atlantic produced less than 
5,000,000 pounds. On account of the reluctance of fishermen to 
state definitely the locality from which halibut are taken, because the 
spreading of such information would invite competition, it is difficult 
to obtain exact statistics regarding the proportions of the catch 
from the several regions concerned on the Pacific coast. It is be- 
lieved, however, that a conservative estimate would place the catch 
of halibut along the Alaskan coast both in extraterritorial and intra- 
territorial waters at approximately 40 per cent of the total, or, ex- 
pressed fn figures, a total of more than 25,000,000 pounds in the year 
1915. The customs records, however, show only about 15,000,000 
pounds of halibut passing through Alaskan ports. This is substan- 
tially the amount which is credited to Alaska in the statistical tables 
appearing elsewhere in this report. 
The halibut industry in Alaska is centered chiefly at Ketchikan, 
where there are two large fish-freezing plants, namely, those of the 
New England Fish Co. and the Ketchikan Cold Storage Co. The 
first mentioned is the largest in Alaska. The latter concern was new 
to Alaska in 1915. Other companies having cold-storage facilities 
and engaging in the halibut industry in an important way were 
the Booth Fisheries Co., at Sitka; Juneau Cold Storage Co., at Juneau; 
Taku Canning & Cold Storage Co., at Taku Harbor; and the Glacier 
Fish Co., which operated a floating eold-storage plant on the barge 
Glory of the Seas. This concern has heretofore been designated as 
the Glacier Fisheries Co. It did not, however, send the Glory of 
the Seas into Alaskan waters in 1914, although the vessel was operated 
at Idaho Inlet in 1913. In addition to the freezing of halibut, 
