FACTORS IN THE UTILIZATION OF CANADA'S 

 PACIFIC MARINE RESOURCES 



By J. L. Hart 



Pacific Biological Station 

 Nanaimo, B. C, Canada 



In a simple society men use their hands or simple tools to take fish 

 for their own immediate food needs. In an industrialized society com- 

 plicated machines are used to catch and prepare fish for shipment and 

 exchange lor other commodities. In any region the extent and char- 

 acter of the departure from the simple situation depend upon (1) the 

 qualities and habits of the fish species available, (2) the geography and 

 meteorology of the region, (3) the technological aptitude of the fisher- 

 men, and (4) the economic condition of the inhabitants. These factors 

 are also an influence in the attitude of peoples toward resource utiliza- 

 tion. Their application to the fishing industry of the Pacific coast of 

 Canada is discussed in this account. 



Fish Used 



Five species of salmon of the genus Ojicorhyjichus provide more 

 than half the total value of the Pacific fishery in Canada. The fish are 

 fat, preserved well by canning, freezing or salting, and are in general 

 high demand. They differ substantially in life history but all are ana- 

 dromous, and all attain most of their growth in salt water. On their 

 spawning migration in summer and autumn all pass through the inlets 

 and channels of the coast in large and readily captured schools. Thus, 

 on its spawning migration each species is susceptible to easy depletion 

 or even extermination by fishing. Human activities add to the natural 

 hazards of the freshwater life of these fish: dams obstruct rivers; irriga- 

 tion requirements divert water; impoundments "drown" spawning 

 grovmds; communities and industries pollute streams; logging and agri- 

 culture result in silted spawning grounds or changes in stream flow. 



1 he second ranking fishery on the Canadian Pacific Coast is for 

 lierring (Clupea pallasi). Most of the catch is reduced and shipped to 

 the markets of the world as oil and meal. Adult and adolescent herring 

 for the most part spend their summers feeding offshore on the con- 

 tinental shelf. In autmnn and winter they form dense schools and ap- 

 proach the coast as a preliminary to spawning in shallow water and on 

 the l:>eaches in March. The migrating aggregations are very vulnerable 



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