224 



HISTORY AND METHODS OF TiiE FISHERIES. 



S. FINANCIAL PKOFITS OF FISHERMEN AND CUEERS. 



METHODS OF SHARING THE PROFITS. The captain of the vessel receives about $8 per 1,000 

 for the entire catch. The dress-gang and salters get about $25 per month; good men, $30. As 

 already explained, most of these men have a chance to catch some fish, for which they receive $25 

 per 1,000. The fishermen are paid $25 per 1,000 each for his own catch. The captain keeps each 

 man's account separate. 



In 187G wages were much higher; headers received from $30 to $35 per month; throaters, $35 

 to $40; salters, $45; splitters, $05. The first two also had some time for fishing, and received $25 

 per 1,000 for the fish. In this year "one man on board the schooner Selma" had 13,000 fish to his 

 credit, which, at $25 per 1,000, would give him $325, exclusive of any prize. As the Selma is a 

 small schooner like the Alaska and does not carry a " dress-gang," the pay is more likely to be 

 $30 per 1,000, which would give him $390, or over $97 a month not bad pay for a sailor. In the 

 schooners the captains usually split their own fish and the men do the dressing. The captain is 

 sometimes paid by the mouth, receiving about $120, but more generally he has an interest in the 

 quantity of fish taken, and receives from $8 to $10 per 1,000. Where the vessel is very small, it 

 is usual to pay the captain by the month, because 28,000 or 30,000 would be a cargo, and at $10 a 

 1,000 that would bring him in only $280 or $300 for a cruise of four mouths.* 



I believe the average pay of a fisherman in 1879 was small, judging from the table which 

 follows : 



* Number estimated. 



t The captain, of course, is excluded, except in case of the last two. 



Leaving out the exceptional cases of the Alaska and the Page, the average wages of the 

 Okhotsk fishermen was $36 per month for the season of five mouths, and the average of the Shu- 

 magin men was $32 per month for a season of four months. 



The average annual catch of cod at the Pirate Cove station is about 200,000 fish, of which, in 

 1S79, the Unga and the Nagay together caught 70,000; the balance were caught by eight men, 

 each of them averaging, therefore, about 16,250 fish. ' At $27.50 per 1,000 the gross earnings of 

 each man were $446.87. Deducting all necessary expenses, each fisherman should have nearly 

 $400 for his season's work, and his board, lodging, and fuel free. In 1880 the returns from the 

 same station were 142,000 fish, of which the Unga took 35,000. Each man's share will therefore 



* San Francisco Post. 



