68 American Fisheries Society. 



lions, and walrus are present in countless numbers. Sever- 

 al stations are now being operated in Alaska in the catching 

 and rendering of whales. Oil, meal and fertilizer are the 

 usual products obtained, but each season witnesses a steadily 

 increasing demand for the meat as food in either a fresh, 

 frozen or canned condition, while a market has of recent 

 years been found for the hides of aquatic mammals in the 

 preparation of a high grade of leather. 



Crabs. — Operations during the year 1922 indicate that 

 the canning of crab meat is now an established industry on 

 this coast, as some six or seven plants were operated. The 

 pack was comparatively small, and this is due to several 

 causes — the fishermen have not yet become familiar with the 

 habitat of the spidor crab, the best and most profitable crab 

 to can; the duty of 15 Der cent on imported crabs doeL. not 

 furnish enough protection to our packers, while in some in- 

 stances local methods of packing are susceptible of consid- 

 erable improvement. One of the first pieces of research 

 work taken up by the College of Fisheries of the University 

 of Washington after its establishment early in 1919 was the 

 working out of a process for cooking crabs and canning the 

 meat, and this was published in the Pacific Fisherman of 

 June, 1921. At the College we still have some of the origi- 

 nal pack, now a little over two years old, and whenever 

 opened these present a pleasing appearance, and in all cases 

 have proved sterile. When put up properly Pacific crab 

 meat is a delicious article and one that not only pleases the 

 eye but also the palate. 



Most of the meat packed so far has been of the Dungenese 

 crab {Cancer magister) , the common crab of this coast, and 

 which is found in the shallow coastal waters from Monterey 

 to some unknown point in Alaska, probably Cook Inlet. This 

 crab is a favorite in the markets of our coastal states, where 

 it is sold mainly in a boiled condition. Attains a maximum 

 weight of about five pounds, but the average weight is about 

 one and one half or two pounds. They are taken in oblong 

 pots, similar to the common lobster pot of the Atlantic, or in 

 open collapsible pots like waste paper baskets when dis- 

 tended. 



The fact that the spider crab has a whiter flesh, while the 

 red stripes on the outside of the leg meat is more brilliantly 

 colored than that of the Dungenese crab, has led our packers 

 to institute a search for the former in our waters, and so far 

 it has been reported from the neighborhood of Wrangel Nar- 

 rows, in Prince Vv^'illiam Sound and Cook Inlet. In the last 

 nam.ed place, two canneries began catching and packing 

 them last fall, and the produce turned out compares very 

 favorably with the best of the Japanese pack. 



