104 



PACIFIC FISHERMAN 



salteries have nearly all been driven 

 out of business. 



While prices ranged from $7 to $9 

 per barrel for Red salmon in 1913, 

 from $9.50 to $12.50 was realized this 

 year. Seattle early made a clean-up of 

 its small stock, but San Francisco still 

 has a considerable quantity on hand, 

 which will doubtless be marketed he- 

 fore the new stock begins to arrive. 



Bellies. — Since the federal govern- 

 ment issued its order forbidding the 

 packing of bellies unless the other edi- 

 ble parts of the fish are put to some 

 economic use, but few have been 

 packed in Alaska. Most of these are 

 packed in central and western Alaska, 

 where fox ranches and codfish stations 

 furnish a market for the backs. Most 

 of the bellies marketed are cut from 

 the whole fish after they have been 

 brought to the home ports. Some lit- 

 tle market has been developed for the 

 resulting strips. 



Herring. — Herring were very abun- 

 dant in Alaska this year, the fish ap- 

 pearing in places where they had not 

 been seen for a number of year past. 

 As a result a very large pack of salted 

 food herring was prepared. The pack 

 was 8.196 barrels. In 19l: J . the pack 

 amounted to 3,462 barrels, thus show 

 ing a gain of 4.7:; 1 barrels for 1914 \> 

 usual, a proportion of the pack com- 

 prised thin fish taken late in the 

 fall, and poorly prepared fish, and it 

 was difficult to sell these at any price, 

 but the fat, well cured fish sold at re- 

 munerative prices. The war, by cut 

 ting off temporarily the imports of for- 

 eign herring, very materially helped 

 the sale of the best grade of Alaska 

 herring, and if our packers will err- 

 deavor to continue the packing of the 

 better grade alone, they will doubtless 

 be able to hold a part at least of this 

 trade. 



Black Cod.— This fish is steadih 

 growing in favor as time passes. For 

 some years the only market for it was 

 in the northwest and Alaska coast 

 towns, but of recent years the demand 

 for it has spread to the interior towns. 

 The pack prepared in Alaska almost 

 doubled that put up in 1913, despite 

 the fact that large quantities were 

 marketed in a fresh and frozen condi 

 tion. 



Miscellaneous Canned Fish 



Keep This 

 Number 



You will need to 

 consult it many 

 times throughout 

 the year. Keep 

 it in your desk for 

 ready reference. 



CANNED TUNA. 



The tuna canning season just closed 

 witnessed many ups and down; in its 

 course. All the companies that oper- 

 ated in 1913 made big preparations 

 for this year, while several new plants 

 were started. The catch did not come 

 up to expectations, however, despite 

 the fact that it was nearly three times 

 larger than in 1913. A much larger 

 pack would have been made had not 

 the fish disappeared early in October 

 instead of, as usual, late in November 

 or early in December. Most of the 

 canneries early gave up hopes of 

 catching any more and closed down 

 about November 1. A few fish ap- 

 peared late in November, but soon 

 disappeared again. 



Owing to the disappearance of the 

 tuna late in the year the canneries 

 are generally shut down until late in 

 the following spring when the fish re- 

 appear in numbers. Some packers 

 have contended that the fish are in 

 deep water farther out in the ocean, 

 and this year the U. S. Bureau of 

 Fisheries assigned a man to the task 

 of tracing their movements. Owin^i 

 to the lack of an appropriation that 

 would enable the bureau to put the 

 Albatross in the field, the deep sea 

 portion of the investigation had to he 

 postponed until a more propitious 

 time. Some thousands of tuna were 

 tagged and the fishermen asked to re- 

 port when and where they caught these 

 fish, in order that their movements 

 might be traced. Nothing definite 

 along this line has yet been estab- 

 lished. 



As up to this season only the white 

 meat of the tuna was canned, the dark 

 meat being sold to the local fertilizer 

 plants, this meant a considerable waste 

 of a good food product. This season 

 several of the plants began to pack 

 the dark meat by itself and also mixed 

 with the white. A line of salad and 

 sandwich tuna, made of the small 

 pieces which were formerly rejected, is 

 also now being packed. 



Believing that the tuna when not at 

 the surface go to the bottom or inter- 

 mediate depths, the Van Camp Sea 

 Food Company experimented in the 

 fall with a large purse seine. Owing 

 to the vessel not being properly equip- 

 ped to handle by power such a large 

 seine as was used, the experiment was 



not successful, but it is the company's 

 intention to continue the experiments. 



A Tuna Exchange, composed of most 

 of the concerns operating canneries, 

 was formed late in the season and has 

 opened offices at San Pedro. It was 

 organized to supply all the canneries 

 with fish and finance fishermen who 

 desire to build or buy new boats and 

 nets, and make payment in fish. Here- 

 after no contracts will be made by the 

 packers with individual fishermen, all 

 this being attended to by the exchange. 



On October 24 the San Pedro can- 

 nery of the Southern California Fish 

 Co. was burned. This company, which 

 was started originally to pack sar- 

 dines, was the pioneer in the canning 

 of tuna, the latter forming its princi- 

 pal business during the last three sea- 

 sons. 



The following companies operated 

 this year: 



Los Angeles Tuna Canning Co., Long 

 Beach. 



South Coast Canning Company, Long 

 Beach. 



Pacific Tuna Canning Co.. San Diego. 



Premier Packing Co., San Diego. 



Lower California Fisheries. San 

 Diego. 



United Tuna Packers, Wilmington. 



Monarch Canning Co., Wilmington. 



Coast Fishing Company, Wilmington. 



Van Camp Sea Food Co., San Pedro. 



Southern California Fish Co., San 

 Pedro. 



White Star Canning Co., San Pedro. 



The pack this year amounted to 124,- 

 000 cases (48 cans to the case) of 1- 

 pound flats, and 186,000 cases (48 cans 

 to the case) of %-pound flats, or a total 

 pack, reduced to a common basis of 

 is pounds to the case, of 217,000 cases. 

 In 1913 the pack amounted to 40,000 

 cases of 1-pound flat cans and 75,000 

 cases of %-POund flat cans, which. 

 when reduced to the same basis as 

 noted above, amounted to a total pack 

 of 77.500 cases. 



CANNED CRABS. 

 A few canned crabs are prepared 

 annually on this coast, but the indus- 

 try has not thrived, owing to the cheap 

 Japanese product with which our mar- 

 kets are flooded. The Greelford Pack- 

 ing Co., of Westport, Wash., and S. 

 Elmore & Co., at Alsea, Oregon, pack- 

 ed a small quantity this year. 



1914— PACIFIC COAST CANNED SHAD PACK— 1914 



Columbia River. 



Altoona Packing Co 



Booth Fisheries Co 



Columbia River Packers Association 



Pillar Rock Packing Co 



WarreD Packing Co 



Total Columbia River 



CANNERY 

 LOCATION 



Altoona. Wash. . . . 



Astoria, Ore 



Astoria. Ore 



Pillar Rock. Wash 

 < atlilamet. Wash. 



lib. Tails 



330 

 1.023 

 1.543 



123 



3,093 



Flats, 

 8 doz. 



TOTAL. 



Pull 

 cases. 



72 



330 



1.023 



1.700 



123 



3,248 



Sacramento River. 

 Sacramento River Packers Association. 



Total Sacramento River. 

 Grand total 



Pittsburg, Cal. 



500 

 3,748 



•Shad Roe 



