FUE-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. XXXV 



the tide. The result was one company packed over 100,000 cases of 

 salmon, and all the rest filled all their cans and made a perfect success. 

 No care was taken of the surplus fish, and tens of thousands rotted on 

 the banks. The remarkable success of these canneries and the wide 

 publicity given as to the pack have so excited those engaged in the 

 industry and more who know nothing of the business to organize ex- 

 peditions, and all on this grand scale, to pack salmon in Alaska, that 

 something over twenty-five new parties will be in the field, and all old 

 canners will be doubling up on their jiresent plant. 



Now, the point is, let this number of people locate on these small 

 streams, shut the fish off from their spawning ground, and in five years 

 there will not be a fish left. To-day there is not a location east of the 

 Peninsula and Aleutian islands but is taken up, and it is a mistaken 

 idea that the fish of commerce abound in every stream. Many of them 

 have the dog, humpback, gaboose salmon, which are white in color 

 and not good to can. The salmon interests of Alaska will yield from 

 $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 annually if properly fostered and the'fish legiti- 

 mately caught; but under this damming process an unlimited supply 

 can bo had for a few years and then we have the Sacramento Eiver 

 over again— no fish. Karluk River, on Kodiak Idand, will be the ob- 

 jective point for several canneries. Afoguak Island, Chignuk Bay, are 

 points now known on which plants will be put up. 



Kodiak Island is some 80 miles in length, and there are more or less 

 streams, all of which will be prospected or have already been. Now, if 

 all these expeditions are allowed to proceed and catch fish in this way 

 this year, there will be no doubt as to their success in packing the fish, 

 and another year must see the number doubled, and how long will it 

 take to locate every stream in Alaska, and they are not so numerous as 

 many suppose? The first of these vessels will be starting by the mid- 

 dle of February, and immediate steps should be taken by the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior, if he has the power, to suppress this illicit mode 

 of fishing. The penalty should be severe, and upon conviction of tbe 

 guilty parties the informers should get a large reward. 



The Government cutters are cruising in those waters, and could make 

 a rigid examination of those known and prominent places, especially 

 Karluk Eiver, Afoguak, and Chignuk Bay. If the seal are worth pro- 

 tecting, how much more the salmon; and as there is no law the Gov- 

 ernment should take immediate and severe action. If the Secretary of 

 the Interior has the power, notice should at once be given in our pa- 

 pers or at custom-house that this mode of fishing will not be allowed. 



Washington, D. C, January 26, 1889.' 

 Sir: In response to your request for information concerning the salt- 

 water fisheries of Alaska, I have the honor to make the following re- 

 port : 



THE FOOD-FISHES. 



Cod and halibut are the principal salt-water food-fishes of the north- 

 ern Pacific as they are of the northern Atlantic coasts. The species are 

 identical in the two oceans. In the Pacific Ocean both species have 

 practically the same distribution and the same center of abundance. 

 Cod have been recorded doubtfully from as far south as the Farallone 

 Islands, off San Francisco. They occur on Ueceta Bank, off" the coast 



