CLXIV REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



usually filed off or beut down. This is to facilitate removing the fish from the hook. 

 Six to 10 fathoms of No. 48 line is used. The gig is fastened to the line by a wire 

 about 3 feet long. 



In fishing for halibut, bass, and other bottom fishes, the trawl is used almost 

 exclusively. A trawl is made with No. 120 to 140 line, with 160 hooks hung 7 feet 

 apart on ganging of No. 27 line 3 feet long. Any number of trawls may be fastened 

 end to end. No. 7/0 Kirby hooks are generally used, but No. 8/0 are better for 

 halibut, and No. 5/0 or 6/0 for bass, whitefish, or yellow-fin. The trawl is lifted 

 about every half hour. 



In fishing for rockfish, a No. 48 line is used, with about thirty or forty No. 7/0 

 Kirby hooks fastened near one end. This is fished from the boat, never set like a 

 trawl. Sometimes an ordinary trawl is used for rockfish, but the ground is usually 

 rocky, and a part of the line is often lost. When the line is caught, it is often loos- 

 ened by sliding a 20 to 25 pound iron ring down over it. The ring is about 7 inches 

 inside diameter and is lowered by a small rope. A trawl for rockfish is lifted within 

 about five minutes after setting. For all kinds of bottom fishing the sardine is the 

 principal bait used. Shallow baskets with cork rims are used for coiling the trawls, 

 the hooks being stuck into the rim. 



Barracuda are sometimes caught in gill-nets. These are of 3^-inch mesh, 16 to 20 

 feet deep, and about 200 fathoms long, made of No. 9 thread. Silversides are caught 

 in gill-nets of 2-inch mesh, 16 feet deep, length variable. Sardine gill-nets are of 

 1^-inch mesh and 12 feet deep. All gill-nets drift. They are used chiefly for silver- 

 sides (smelt) and sardines, but not much for barracuda. 



Drag seines are used only in the bay. The common size is about 10 feet deep and 

 200 fathoms long. The mesh at the ends is about 3| inches; about 30 fathoms from 

 the end it is 2 inches; in the middle about 1 inch. The bag is about 15 feet across 

 and 10 feet long, the mesh about f inch. 



Trammel nets are sometimes used for bottom fishes. The outer nets are of 16-inch 

 mesh of about No. 15 twine, the inner net of 34 or 4 inch mesh of about No. 8 twine. 

 The net is 6 to 9 feet deep ; length variable. 



THE AMERICAN SEAL HERD AND PELAGIC SEALING. 



In compliance with an act of Congress, an investigation of the con- 

 dition of the Pribilof .fur-seal rookeries has been made by the Fish 

 Commission each year since 1893. This work has usually been per- 

 formed by the writer in connection with former duties on the steamer 

 Albatross. In 1896-97 the existence of a special fur seal investigation 

 commission, with which the writer was connected, made it unnecessary 

 for the Fish Commission to make separate reports on the subject. 

 During the past season he resumed the fur-seal investigations in con- 

 nection with the work of the division of fisheries, leaving Washington 

 for the Pribilof Islands in June. This was authorized by the Commis- 

 sioner upon the request of the Secretary of the Treasury, in accordance 

 with the direction of the President, that a systematic study of the 

 Pribilof seal herd be maintained from year to year. 



Pelagic sealing is no longer engaged in by citizens of the United 

 States, Congress having passed a law in December, 1897, prohibiting 

 the killing of fur-seals in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean, and 

 the importation of skins so taken, whether raw or manufactured. 



The business, so far as the American seal herd is concerned, is now 

 engaged in by Canadians only. The catch by the Canadian fleet off the 

 northwest coast during the winter of 1897 amounted to 10,055 seals. 



