70 BULLETIN 150, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



doubtful, therefore, whether any economical method of preserving 

 this waste could be devised. The heads, on the other hand, easily 

 could be saved, provided the halibut stations were within a con- 

 venient distance of a rendering station. At best these could be re- 

 garded only as a small auxiliary supply of raw material, for 

 in no instance, probably, is there a sufficient quantity of heads pro- 

 duced at any one station to warrant the installation there of a by- 

 products plant. 



The fish taken incidentally in the halibut fisheries constitute an- 

 other large waste. Concerning this, Messrs. Bower and Fassett, of 

 the United States Bureau of Fisheries say : 



Halibut are almost exclusively caught on trawl or ground lines, which, 

 equipped with hundreds of hooks, are set out from dories in great lengths 

 over the bottom. At intervals, as the weather permits, the lines are underrun, 

 the catch removed, hooks rebaited, and the lines reset, this wor°k also being 

 done from dories. After careful inquiry among halibut fishermen themselves, 

 it is believed to be a safe estimate that for every halibut caught at least one 

 other fish of more or less value as food is taken from the hooks. With those 

 rare exceptions when black cod are retained, all these fish are thrown back 

 into the sea, either dead or soon to perish. Except in so far as they may be- 

 come food for other species, they may be regarded as a total economic loss. 1 



There is little information on which to base an estimate of the 

 weight of the other fish taken with the halibut. Assuming that this 

 is only 25 per cent of the round weight of the halibut, about 16,000,- 

 000 pounds, it would amount to 2,000 tons waste fish. To conserve 

 this for rendering it would be necessary to equip the steamers with 

 storage tanks, which, it has been pointed out, would be regarded as 

 highly objectionable, owing to lack of space. At the present low 

 price which such material brings in the market and the short time in 

 which rendering plants would be in operation, it seems quite im- 

 probable that the waste produced in the halibut fisheries will come 

 to play an important role as a source of raw materials for the manu- 

 facture of fertilizer and oil. 



WHALE. 



Whaling from shore stations has been reduced to the extent that 

 only two such stations were operated on the Pacific coast territory 

 of the United States during the 1913 season. These were the sta- 

 tions at Port Armstrong, Alaska, and Bay City, Wash. At the 

 former station 186 whales were taken, 2 which yielded 665 tons of 

 fertilizer. At the latter plant about 500 tons of fertilizer and bone 

 meal were prepared. The composition of these products is shown 

 in Table XVI. 



1 Pacific Fisherman, 12, No. 1 (special), 1914 cf., p. 63. 

 e Bower and Fassett, loc. cit. 



