THE COD FISHEKY OF ALASKA. 205 



According to Capt. J. C. Caton, cod are present around the Shumagin Islands all the time, 

 but at some seasons they are very scarce. The best fishing is in February, commencing about the 

 10th and lasting to March 10. * At this time none of the vessels are engaged in the fishery; only 

 the Pirate Cove Station is prepared to use the opportunity, and I infer, from remarks of the 

 manager, that there is little activity in that quarter. Most of the vessels coming up to the islands 

 get their best fish and best fare in July. Sometimes they do well in May. The fleet come up late 

 in April or early in May and stay until the 10th or 15th of August. 



Mr. Devine, who manages the permanent fishing station on Popoff Island (at Pirate Cove), 

 also informed me that cod are to be found all the year'round, but that they go off into deep water 

 during cold snaps and toward evening. He stated that the school fish leave in August or Sep- 

 tember and return in January and February. They seem to move off to the southward and to 

 return from the southward and westward. 



With reference to the bank 20 miles east-northeast of Seminoffsky, Capt. Andrew Anderson 

 told me that the fishing is best in August and September. The "yellow fish" (Pleurogrammus 

 monopterygius) school there abundantly about the middle of August, and will follow the bait up to 

 the top of the water. Cod will bite at the yellow-fish in preference to anything else. A change is 

 now being inaugurated in the distribution of the yellow-fish which may affect the movements of 

 cod; the yellow-fish, which was a few years ago unknown or scarcely known about the Island of 

 Unalashka, occurred both at the southern and the northern end, on the west side, during the sum- 

 mer of 1880. At Chernoff'sky and Iliuliuk the species was observed in numbers, and if this habit 

 becomes fixed we may expect an increase in the abundance of cod where this choice food may 

 locate. 



Mr. Marcus Baker has translated for me a note by Ivan Veniaminoff on the marine fishes of 

 the Unalashka region, in which occurs the following sentence : " Some of these, and especially the 

 cod, in the winter go offshore into deep water, but in summer time they are found along the shores 

 of certain bays and in shoal water." 



SCHOOLING. Mr. D. C. Bowen, of Saint Paul, Kodiak, distinguishes various schools of cod 

 about that island, which vary in size and other particulars and take their names from their 

 favorite food during the time of their stay. He gives them in the following order: First, the 

 *' herring school," consisting of fish of medium size, which come about May 1 and stay until June, or 

 even July; next, the "lant school," feeding on sand launce (Ammodytes personatus), and made up 

 of short, thick, well-meated fish, not so large as those of the herring school, and appearing in 

 June and July. Then follows the "capelin school," whose food is the Mallotus villosus, so well 

 known on the Labrador coast, in July remaining until September. These are good-sized fish, 

 about equal to the Newfoundland cod. The "squid school" comes on in August or September and 

 remains until October. The fish of this school average 12 pounds in weight. The schools so far 

 enumerated are all shore fish, and they are always smaller than bank fish. From October there 

 are winter schools in some places. These are generally composed of short, thick fish. 



Capt. J. C. Caton says that they catch males and females together in the spawning season, 

 and that they do not school when spawning. 



Mr. William J. Fisher has furnished the following information concerning the schooling of cod 

 around Kodiak, for which he acknowledges his indebtedness to Capt. H. K. Bowen : Cod associate 

 in schools generally from May to the middle of September, and they live independently the rest of 

 the year, the severity of the winter having much influence on their habits. At different seasons 

 and in different places there are different schools. Males, females, and young are found iv the 



