66 American Fisheries Society. 



With the exception of Japan, none of the countries bor- 

 dering on the North Pacific has exploited its fisheries to any- 

 thing like the extent that is practiced in the fisheries of the 

 North Atlantic. Most of our efforts in each section of the 

 Pacific have been centered upon a few well known species, 

 while the lesser known ones have been almost entirely neg- 

 lected, A typical example of this is the albicore. In 1907 

 Dr. Jordan stated "the flesh of the albicore is of little value, 

 unless, as in Japan, it is eaten raw." That same year, Mr. 

 A. P. Halfhill, of San Pedro, California, discovered a method 

 of canning them, and as a result a large canning business, 

 amounting in 1919 to 657,624 cases, was built up. About 

 1903 the canning of sardines began on the Pacific Coast, but 

 it was not until the war created a large demand for food pro- 

 ducts that the industry became important; the pack in 1919 

 (a dull year as the result of the ending of the war in Novem- 

 ber, 1918) amounted to 1,151,516 cases. Prior to the open- 

 ing of the war, the largest pack of pickled food herring in 

 our Pacific territory amounted to only about 15,000 barrels. 

 In 1922, we pickled for food nearly 200,000 barrels, and this 

 could be expanded enormously had Vv^e accurate informa- 

 tion as to the migrations of this species. 



Cod. — The oldest fishing industry by Americans in Alas- 

 ka is that for cod, this having been started some years be- 

 fore the territory was purchased by the United States. The 

 principal off-shore cod banks in the North Pacific extend 

 from Middleton Island, in the Gulf of Alaska, to Unimak 

 Pass, and in Bering Sea, from Unimak Pass to Cape Newen- 

 ham. These banks comprise some 30,000 square miles. In 

 addition there are what are known as inshore banks, mainly 

 worked by the shore stations and which lie between the off- 

 shore banks and the mainland shore. These comprise an 

 area about one-half as great as the offshore banks. In 

 Southeast Alaska considerable cod is also found, while there 

 are good reasons for believing that important offshore and 

 inshore banks exist on both sides of the Aleutian chain to the 

 westward of Unimak Pass. 



The fleet operating on the offshore banks inl921 com- 

 prised some 19 sailing and power schooners, while 17 shore 

 stations, equiped with launches and dories, operated on the 

 inshore banks. The total catch amounted to 4,787,831 cod, 

 valued at $457,320. This catch could be enormously in- 

 creased, and the only reason why this has not been done has 

 been because the Atlantic banks continue as heavy produc- 

 ers, and our fishermen find it difficult to compete in South 

 and Central American markets with the Atlantic coast deal- 

 ers who have controlled this trade for nearly 200 years. 



