THE FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST 



By John N. Cobb, 

 Editor of the Pacific Fisherman, Seattle, Wash. 



But few persons except those intimately associated 

 with the fisheries of the Pacific coast appreciate their 

 magnitude. While the products prepared in other parts 

 of the country circulate widely in their own region, oc- 

 casionally having a country-wide distribution (as in the 

 case of sardines), certain products of the Pacific coast 

 have a much wider distribution. Canned salmon, almost 

 all of which is packed on this coast, is one of the world's 

 great staples, and the same may be said of salted salmon, 

 while the mild-cured and frozen salmon of the Pacific 

 can be found in all parts of the world except the more 

 remote portions where cold storage is not available. Of 

 the enormous quantity of fresh and frozen halibut con- 

 sumed in this country, more than nine-tenths come from 

 the Pacific banks, and this product is rapidly making for 

 itself a market in European countries. The most ex- 

 tensive cod banks in the world are to be found off our 

 Alaskan coast, and some day they will support even 

 greater fleets than do the Atlantic banks. At present 

 our Pacific cod find not only a general market in the 

 country west of the Mississippi river, but large quanti- 

 ties are shipped to New England and other points in 

 the East, to the West Indies, Australia, Hawaii, and 

 various Asiatic ports. 



Herring are to be found on this coast in immense num- 

 bers, while countless other species, some of which are 

 well known to the country at large, as smelt, sea basses, 

 albicore, flounders, sole, tomcod, whitefish, shad and 

 striped bass (both introduced from the Atlantic), are to 

 be found here in large numbers, while others which are 

 peculiar to this coast, as eulachon, black cod, Atka 

 mackerel, etc., are to be found here in great abundance. 



Shrimp, crabs, clams, mussels, and scallops are abund- 

 ant, while both the eastern and the native oyster thrive 



