39 
Professor Edward E. Prince, Dominion Commissioner of 
Fisheries, ranks the sturgeon as one of the most valuable of 
Canadian fishes. In his special report on the “ Canadian Sturgeon 
and Caviare Industries,” (37th Annual Report, Fisheries Branch, 
Department of Marine and Fisheries, 1904), he points out that 
Canada supplies 75 per cent. of the world’s consumption of caviare, 
and gives a mass of interesting information regarding the fish, its 
distribution, habits, methods for its capture, and the preparation of 
caviare, isinglass, and other products. The quantity and value of 
sturgeon and caviare for the Dominion, in 1903, were: Sturgeon, 
1,660,920 pounds, value $146,860; caviare 64,835 pounds, value 
$52,426; total value, $199,286. The use of caviare has become more 
general of late years, and in consequence it now sells as high as 
$1 per pound, on the fishing ground, so that taking the yield of an 
average fish at 50 to 60 pounds of roe, the value would be $50 to $60 
per fish, not reckoning the flesh, the bladder, the oil, and the skin, 
each having a distinct economic value. There is no other fish which 
yields so much, as every part of the sturgeon can be turned to 
profit. Named in the order of their commercial importance, the 
products of the sturgeon are:—(1) Caviare; (2) isinglass, made 
from the swim bladder; (3) the flesh, fresh, salted, smoked or 
otherwise prepared; (4) oil, which is of great value in the leather 
industry; (5) fertilizer, made from entrails and scrap; (6) the soft, 
gristly backbone, with its sheath, which, prepared, is called wesiga, 
and in Russia is an esteemed article of diet; (7) the brain and nerve 
cord removed from the gristle, when smoked and dried, is con- 
sidered a great delicacy in China; (8) the back portion of the 
sturgeon, or dorsal region, is made into balyki; (9) the ventral 
part, or belly, of the fish is made into a food called pupki; (10) a 
valuable glue, differing from the isinglass of the swim bladder, is 
made from the nose, fins, tail, etc., and, lastly (11) leather is made 
from the tough and dense skin. Mill belts and boot laces are made 
from sturgeon leather, and experiments have shown that a set of 
sturgeon leather laces will last as long as the belt itself. 
The catch of sturgeon, in 1908, was 180,000 pounds. 
DOGFISH. 
The waters of the North Pacific are infested with many 
varieties of small sharks (all known to the fisherman as dogfish), 
which are an endless source of vexation and loss to the deep-sea 
fishers. These coyotes of the sea, like their land brethren, skirmish 
on the flanks of the big schools of halibut, herring, cod and salmon, 
snatching their prey at unguarded moments, and when the fisher- 
men lower their lines, pounce upon and devour the bait, while in 
