Pacific Coast Fishery Resources. 



Several attempts have been made on 

 Puget Sound and in Alaska to build up 

 an industry in the canning of the young 

 herring and a pilchard which frequents 

 those waters, but as these were all tried 

 some years ago they failed largely through 

 the inability of the canners to compete 

 with the cheap a.nd abundant labor then 

 available for the Maine canneries. The 

 high prices caused by the war's demands, 

 the cutting off of imports of foreign sar- 

 dines, together with the present avail- 

 ability of labor saving machinery, have 

 altered conditions very much, and it is 

 probable that the packing of sardines in 

 this section would be profitable now. In 

 1916 a plant was established in southeast 

 Alaska where the larger herring were 

 kippered and canned in 1-pound ovals, 

 while in 1917 the same plant expanded 

 its business to include packing in i-pound 

 ovals. 



COD Off our Alaskan coast lie the 

 most extensive cod banks to be found 

 anywhere in the world, and yet at the 

 present time less than a dozen vessels 

 frequent them. This has been due to 

 the fact that the eastern and European 

 packers, having been established much 

 longer, controlled the business to a large 

 extent. The war, however, diverted Nor- 

 way's exports from this part of the 

 world to the European continent, and as 

 the Atlantic coast dealers were not able 

 to take care of the additional demand, 

 recourse was had to the Pacific coast, 

 where the catch is limited only by the 

 market demand. 



Very little attention has been paid in 

 this country to preparing the fish other 

 than in a dry-salted condition. Norway 

 has for many years prepared immense 

 quantities of stockfish and marketed them 

 throughout the world. Stockfish is cod 

 which has been eviscerated and usually 

 split almost to the tail and then dried 

 in the open until it has the hardness of a 

 board. In this condition it will keep for 

 a long time if stored in a cool, dry place. 

 A small quantity is put up in Alaska 

 each year, and this will doubtless be 

 greatly increased so soon as the war 

 has cut off the Norwegian exports to this 

 country. 



SABLEFISH (Anaoplopoma fim'bria) 

 For some years the halibut fishermen of 

 this coast have been catching on their 

 trawl lines a most delicious fish which 

 they called black cod. Like many other 

 fish it was handicapped by its common 

 name, as it was not a cod at all, and 

 bore no resemblance to that world famous 

 fish either in appearance or flavor. The 

 cod of commerce is a dry-meated fish, 

 practically all of its oil being in the 



liver, while the black cod's flesh is of a 

 firm and flaky texture, white in color 

 and rich in oil. In 1916 the writer 

 suggested the name of sablefish for this 

 species and this is now in general use. 



The fish is generally found in deths of 

 75 to 200 fathoms, from off San Francisco 

 to the Gulf of Alaska, being particularly 

 abundant from Oregon northward. The 

 halibut fishermen fishing in the deeper 

 waters caught many of them, but it has 

 been only within the last 5 years that a 

 market has been developed for them, and 

 this has been due to the efforts of the 

 wholesale fish dealers of the Northwest 

 coast, who have spent much time and 

 money in developing this demand. 



The fish are" very abundant, and it has 

 not been a question with the fishermen 

 how many they could catch but how 

 many they could sell. As the demand 

 increases more and more vessels are engag- 

 ing in the fishery, and in time it prom- 

 ises to be one of the most important 

 fisheries of this coast. In 1916 . the 

 Puget Sound fleet alone produced 

 2,244,751 pounds. 



The sablefish averages about 15 pounds 

 in weight, although it grows much larger. 

 It is an excellent shipper, either in a 

 fresh or frozen condition, and in the 

 latter condition can easily be shipped as 

 far as the Atlantic coast. 



A couple of years ago the Seattle 

 dealers began preparing "barbecued" 

 sablefish, and this method has had much 

 to do with its rapidly growing popu- 

 larity. In barbecuing, the fish is lightly 

 pickled and smoked, or kippered, as it is 

 termed, and in that condition, if kept 

 cool and dry, will keep perfectly for 10 

 or 12 days. The frozen and pickled fish 

 may also be barbecued, the first after 

 thawing 1 and the latter after soaking, so 

 that eastern smokers are enabled to 

 barbecue the fish as w f ell as their western 

 brothers. 



Despite its richness in oil, the sable- 

 fish freezes well and the same it also 

 true with regard to pickling. In the 

 latter condition it rarely ever rusts. 



Recently the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries 

 has done considerable publicity work in 

 connection with this species, which has 

 aided very materially in making it known 

 iri quarters where its fame had not 

 hitherto penetrated. 



SHAD (Alosa sapidissima) It is a 

 question of only a few years until the 

 shad fishery of the Pacific coast will 

 be of first-rate importance. At the pres- 

 ent time it is so overshadowed by its 

 giant brother, the salmon fishery, that 

 it is almost lost sight of. T*he fish are 

 taken mainly on the Columbia and Sac- 



