220 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Besides those professionally engaged in the cod fishery there are at least two thousand adult 

 males in the Territory of Alaska who derive part of their subsistence from codfish either fresh or 

 dried. These men are estimated only for the parishes of Uualashka, Belkofl'sky, and Kodiak, and 

 the coast from Mount Saint Elias to Cape Fox, the number being based upon figures in Petroff's 

 preliminary report to the Census Bureau. There is at present no means of knowing how many 

 cod are consumed by natives of the regions in which they abound, but the number must be very 

 great. The bidarkas at lliuliuk, referred to previously, brought in daily from 15 to 25 cod 

 each. Skulls of this fish have been picked up on the beaches by hundreds at a time. My own 

 observation of the fish-drying frames was made in the height of the salmon fishing, and, of course, 

 salmon predominated over everything else. Wherever we went in the limits of cod we saw more 

 or less hanging up drying without salt. Wherever the native gear has not been superseded by 

 that of the white fishermen lines of bark or of kelp are used. The Indians of the Hoochenoo 

 region have barbless iron hooks and bark lines. Two of them go off in a canoe, each one having 

 for his portion all the fish he catches. The two will catch from 25 to 50 cod in the time spent in 

 fishing each day. So far as I know trawl-lines are not used by any one except the professional 

 fishermen. 



5. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING. 



THE FISHING GEAR. In the earlier years of the Shumagin fishery hand-lines alone were used 

 for catching cod. The use of trawls, according to Capt. Andrew Anderson, began there in 1869. 

 In 1874 one vessel used trawls. In 1875 the Dashing Wave was the only one fishiug with them. 

 Since that time they have been extensively employed, so much so that one correspondent declares 

 that they have made the fish less plentiful than they were five years ago. The Wild Gazelle uses 

 hand-lines altogether; the Uuga, hand-lines and trawls. The gear of the Unga and the Nagay, 

 20-ton schooners, for the season of 1879 cost $362 each. This includes dories, hand-lines, hooks 

 and leads, trawl-lines, hooks, buoy -lines, anchors, buoys, and tubs. 



Some of the dories used in the cod-fishery were bought in the East; others are made in San 

 Francisco. The Beckwith dories are essentially like those of Cape Ann in shape and structure, 

 but the materials are different; sugar pine and fir are used, and the rails are oak. A 16-foot 

 Beckwith dory costs $27.50 without the oars. The average cost of dories in San Francisco is $25. 

 Hooks and all other outfit, except dories, hawsers, and food, come from the East. 



BAIT. The item of bait has never been an expensive one for the San Francisco fleet. In the 

 earlier years of the fishery salted herrings were the principal dependence, and a vessel of 100 tons 

 required about $100 worth of this kind of bait, according to Davidson. Cutts's estimate is $100 

 worth of herring for a vessel of 200 tons. As late as 1879 salt herring were still relied on to some 

 extent, but most of the bait was obtained on the fishing-grounds. In 1876 the fleet used salted 

 clams in part, the main supply coming from Puget Sound. Davidson, iu the Coast Pilot of Alaska, 

 1869, says that his party " fished with clams, the Sclilzotherus nuttallii, obtained at Port Simpson 

 on our way up; but there are plenty of small fish, herring, clams, &c., suitable for bait, in all the 

 harbors along the coast. The clam hangs best to the hook." There is no lack of fresh bait 

 throughout the fishing-area. Fine clams are exceedingly abundant at the Shumagius and at Sitka 

 and Cook's Inlet. Herring (Clupea mirabilis) are found in great numbers on the whole coast of 

 Alaska as far north as Hothain Inlet, being particularly abundant in Prince Frederick Sound, 

 Cook's Inlet, around Kodiak Island, and generally in all cod-areas; Captain Bowen told me that 

 on the 7th of July, 1880, off Ugak Bay, while sailing at the rate of about 4 knots per hour he 

 passed through herring-schools for four hours in succession. " Lant" (Ammodytes personatits) arc 



