THE FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1906. 9 



Apparatus and Capital Employed in the Alaska Fisheries in 1906. 



PRODUCTS. 



The total quantity of products secured was 167,408,453 pounds, 

 valued at $9,071,090. In 1905 the value of the products was 

 $7,711,981, over which 1906 shows a gain of $1,359,489. Except 

 for fertilizer and oil, the weights shown are round weights, or the 

 weight of products when first taken from the w^ater. Southeast 

 Alaska leads in variety of products, but Western Alaska is first in 

 quantity and value, owing to the enormous quantity of salmon 

 canned. Tw^o species of fish occur in the tables this year for the first 

 time, viz, black cod {Anoplopoma fimbria), and redfish, or red cod 

 (Sehastodes melanops). Crabs have also become a marketable com- 

 modity in both Southeast and Central Alaska. Walrus ivory, hides 

 and heads, and whalebone are the only products reported from Arctic 

 Alaska. The fisheries of this region, except so far as the natives are 

 concerned in supplying their own wants, are totally neglected and 

 probably will continue to be for some years to come, or until there 

 is a resident white population along these bleak shores. Salmon, 

 cod, whitefish, etc., have been reported there. It was found an 

 impossibility to secure anything like accurate data as to the persons 

 employed or the investment, either in the hunting of aquatic animals 

 (except sea otter in general and seals on the Pribilof Islands), w^hich 

 is prosecuted in conjunction with the hunting of land animals and is 

 general among the natives, or in the fisheries, because the natives 

 who participate are nomadic in their habits. 



