48 FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1907. 
VESSEL FISHING. 
A fleet of 10 vessels, with headquarters in California or Washington, 
operated in Alaska waters this year. Some of the vessels spent the 
winter of 1906-7 in the north, but met with very little success. The 
only addition to this fleet in 1907 was the schooner Martha H. The 
schooner Lizzie Colby, formerly owned and.operated by J. A. Mathe- 
son, of Anacortes, Wash., was sold early in the year, and did not 
engage in fishing. Nearly all of this fleet operated, during the summer 
at least, in Bering Sea, and all met with little success. Considerable 
complaint was heard again this year in regard to certain vessels’ 
practice of dumping their gurry on the banks; which is said to drive 
the fish away. 
On September 30, the schooner Glen, belonging to the Pacific 
States Trading Company, of San Francisco, was wrecked in Ikitak 
Bay, Unimak Island. One of her crew was drowned and 28,000 fish 
were lost. Other casualties during the year were a fisherman lost 
from the schooner Dora Bluhm, of San Francisco, and one lost from 
the schooner Hunter, of San Francisco. 
The bait question, which is a very serious one to the fishermen of 
the Atlantic coast, causes no anxiety to the Pacific fishermen. Halli- 
but, sculpins, and cuttlefish are the principal bait used, and large 
quantities of these are secured in fishing for cod. 
The scarcity of labor for service as fishermen is a serious difficulty 
to the vessel owners. The greater part of the fishermen on most of 
the vessels are picked up along the water fronts of the coast cities, 
and most crews contain only a few good men. In 1906 the Robin- 
son Fisheries Company brought 40 experienced cod fishermen from 
Gloucester, Mass., and this year a number were brought from the 
same place by the Union Fish Company. 
The vessels from Puget Sound ports operating in Alaska waters 
caught 860,264 fish, while those from San Francisco caught 779,119, a 
total of 1,639,383 fish. In addition a fleet of 4 San Francisco vessels 
operated in the Okhotsk Sea, but had a most disastrous season, only 
about 251,800 fish being secured. As the headquarters of this fleet 
are outside of the district, none of these data are included in the sta- 
tistical tables of this report. 
THE HALIBUT FISHERY. 
This choice food fish occupies a most important position in the com- 
mercial fisheries of Alaska. At present the industry is restricted to 
southeast Alaska, largely because of the fact that central and western 
Alaska are too remote for present steamship facilities. Trustworthy 
reports from Cook Inlet are to the effect that halibut are scattered 
practically all around the inlet, although in what abundance is not 
