UTILIZATION OF THE FISH WASTE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 55 



DISTRIBUTION AND QUANTITIES. 



On the Pacific coast of the United States the two commercially 

 important kelps, Nereocystis and Microcystis, characterize, respec- 

 tively, the northern and southern stretches of that coast. * While it 

 is true that they are found together at certain places and that either 

 one or the other occurs in thin fringes or patches along the entire 

 length of the coast, the Nereocystis occurs in large and thick groves 

 in the Puget Sound region and the Macrocystis on the California 

 coast south of Point Sur. In southeastern Alaska large groves of 

 both species occur; and in western Alaska, in the neighborhood of 

 Kodiak Island and the mouth of Cook Inlet, the Nereocystis is 

 found. 



The important groves from the Mexican boundary to the Canadian 

 line on Puget Sound during the past three years haA^e been measured 

 and mapped to scale ; likewise, the important groves of southwestern 

 and western Alaska have been surveyed. 1 As a result of the three 

 years' work, it is known pretty definitely what the available quanti- 

 ties of kelp are in the various sections of the coast. Economically, 

 the important groves group themselves around certain centers where 

 there are harbors and where labor and transportation facilities are 

 favorable. The natural centers are Puget Sound, Santa Barbara, 

 San Pedro, and San Diego, on the coast of the United States, and 

 Ketchikan and Kodiak, in Alaska. 



The Puget Sound groves, it is estimated, can be made to yield 

 390,000 tons of wet kelp per year. The principal grove here, in 

 convenient reach of Bellingham or Anacortes, is the Smith Island 

 grove, which, it is calculated, would produce 100,000 tons per season. 

 Other important groves lie near the American shore of the Strait 

 of Juan de Fuca (85,000 tons) and the San Juan Islands. 



Opposite Santa Barbara is a grove of approximately 3.9 square 

 nautical miles, which would yield about 320,000 tons of wet kelp per 

 cutting. Near San Pedro, extending from Point Fermin to Malaga 

 Cove, are two groves of a joint area of 2.4 nautical square miles 

 which at a single harvesting should produce 194,000 tons of wet kelp. 

 Near San Diego, north of Point Loma, likewise are two groves of a 

 combined area of 7.7 nautical square miles from which could be 

 harvested at one cutting about 633,000 tons. 



In southeastern Alaska 70 square miles of kelp beds have been 

 surveyed, carrying about 8,000,000 tons of wet kelp. These are dis- 

 tributed along a coast line of about 6,000 miles in a region of many 



1 The groves of the Pacific coast of the States were surveyed by Capt. W. C. Crandall, 

 of the La Jolla Marine Biological Institute ; those of Puget Sound and Alaska, by Profs. 

 T. C. Frye and G. B. Rigg, of the University of Washington. 



