264 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



to the halibut fleet and eight were employed in the 

 cod fisheries, the remaining 65 being practically all 

 used in making the salmon catch. 



In addition to the vessels engaged in fishing, 46 

 registered vessels and 26 unrigged barges and scows 

 were used exclusively for transporting the catch. Of 

 this number, only eight were used on the Columbia 

 River. The pound and trap net catch of Puget 

 Sound was credited to the shore and boat fisheries, the 

 tugs used in moving the catch from the traps to the 

 canneries or markets being classified as transporting 

 rather than fishing vessels. 



In 1904 there were 50 fishing vessels and 80 trans- 

 porting vessels reported by the Bureau of Fisheries. 

 The present census therefore shows a large increase 

 in the number and value of fishing vessels reported, 

 and a small decrease in the number and value of 

 vessels engaged exclusively in transporting the catch. 



The number of power boats employed was 239 and 

 their value $120,000, as compared with 63 boats, all 

 operated by gasoline and valued at $44,000, in 1904. 

 Of the boats reported in 1908, 152, valued at $62,000, 

 were used on the Columbia River, and 87, valued at 

 $57,000, in the other waters of the state. In contrast 

 to this large increase in power boats, there was a ma- 

 terial decrease in both the number and the value of 

 other boats reported, including both sail and row boats. 

 The combined number of sail and row boats reported in 

 1904 was 3,448, and their value $310,000, while in 1908 

 only 2,096, valued at $141,000, were in use. The sail- 

 boat is still employed to a considerable extent on the 

 Columbia River, while practically all the rowboats are 

 in use on Puget Sound and other inland waters. The 

 boats included under the head "Other" are scows or 

 barges of less than 5 tons register. 



The amount invested in apparatus of capture in 

 1908 was $1,162,000, as compared with $1,690,000 in 

 1904. This large decrease was caused to a great extent 

 by the fact that gill nets are taking the place of pound 

 nets and semes in the salmon fisheries. The number 



of pound nets reported showed a decrease, while the 

 number of gill nets reported increased from 1,537 in 

 1904 to 2,221 in 1908. The extending of the fisheries 

 so as to include in the catch many species of fish wlu'ch 

 a few years ago were considered of little or no impor- 

 tance has resulted in an increased use of the purse seine. 

 The investment in apparatus of capture is nearly 

 equal for the two districts into which the state is 

 divided, the apparatus reported for the fisheries of the 

 Pacific Ocean district being valued at $586,000 and 

 that reported for fisheries of the Columbia River at 

 $576,000. 



The value of the apparatus employed in the shore 

 and boat fisheries, $1,102,000, is greatly in excess of 

 that reported for vessel fisheries, $60,000. Of the 

 latter amount, $45,000, or slightly more than 75 per 

 cent, represented the value of lines used for the cod 

 and halibut catch. 



While the pound net is used more extensively in the 

 salmon fisheries of Puget Sound, the larger gill nets 

 are found in the Columbia River fisheries, for wlu'ch 

 926 were reported, as compared with 1,295 gill nets 

 returned as used elsewhere in the state. Fish wheels, 

 of which 13 were reported, were in use only on the 

 Columbia River, and their catch was confined to sal- 

 mon. The following tabular statement shows statis- 

 tics as to the number of the more important kinds of 

 apparatus of capture: 



1 All used in shore and boat fisheries, except 1 beam trawl, 2 gill nets, and 45 seines. 



Products, by species. Table 1, on page 267, shows in 

 detail the quantity and value of the products, by 

 species and by apparatus of capture, for 1908. The 

 total products of the Washington fisheries in 1908 

 amounted to 100,456,000 pounds, valued at $3,513,- 

 000, as compared with 88,955,000 pounds, valued at 

 $2,973,000, in 1904, an increase of 11,502,000 pounds, 

 or 13 per cent, in quantity, and $541,000, or 18 per 

 cent, in value. The increase reported for halibut 

 alone was very large, amounting to 18,086,000 pounds, 

 valued at $879,000; but this increase was partially 

 offset by the decreases reported for several other spe- 

 cies, particularly for several varieties of salmon. For 

 cod, herring, and smelt there were marked increases 

 both in the quantity and value of the catch. The 

 black bass, which was formerly caught in limited 

 quantities, is reported to be entirely extinct, none 

 having been taken for the past few seasons. 



