216 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
The permanent fishing station on Popoff Island was established in 1876 at Pirate Cove by T. 
W. McCollam & Co. There are eight men engaged at the fishery, one of whom, Mr. Thomas 
Devine, isin charge. Fishing is continued all the year, except when interrupted by severe weather. 
When not fishing the men do nothing. jwelve dories are owned at the station. “Both hand-lines 
and trawls are used. The men furnish their own gear, but receive their boarding, house, and fuel 
free. They are paid $27.50 per thousand for the cod, which must not be less than 26 inches long. 
The greatest distance from shore at which they fish is on Henderson’s Island grounds, 4} miles 
away. Besides the cod they catch plenty of halibut (Hippoglossus vulgaris), “cusk” (Bathymaster 
signatus), pollock or silver hake (Pollachius chaleogrammus), “‘ greenfish” (Hexagrammus), yellow- 
fish or striped fish (Pleurogrammus monopterygius), “Irish lords” (Cottus polyacanthocephalus), com- 
mon sculpins (Hemilepidotus Jordant), “Frenchmen” (Hemilepidotus trachurus), and arrow-toothed 
flounder (Atheresthes stomias), The average daily catch of cod per man with hand-line or trawl is 
about 100, and the catch for the year 20,000. The fish are dressed on shore by the men after their 
day’s catch is landed. The small fish are then pickled and the large ones kenched. Mr. Devine 
uses about a ton of Carmen Island salt to 1,000 fish, and puts as many into a kench as he can get 
in to save room. The cod here, according to Mr. Devine, seem to be more watery than the eastern, 
some of them losing two-thirds in curing. I have observed the same thing occasionally, but the 
fish were always small shore-fish. Individuals differ in this respect just as they do in the consist- 
ency of their flesh. Mr. Devine notes a great difference in the ease of splitting fish, young school 
fish being readily split, while some others are hard and tough. Besides the men who fish from the 
station there is a schooner of 20 tons, the Unga, which carries five men, whose catch is brought to 
Pirate Cove. The men are all foreigners. They catch their fish in Nagai Strait, Coal Harbor 
Strait, Sanborn Harbor, Stepovakho Bay, and at the Pinnacle. They use hand-lines and trawls, 
The gear of the Unga cost $362 in 1879. For bait they use halibut, sculpins, and cuttle-fish 
(Octopus punctatus, Gabb). Their season lasts from April to October, the catch averaging 35,000 
fish, which are salted in bulk and then resalted at the station. The crew of the Unga receive $30 
per thousand for their cod and the captain $35. They furnish their own gear. The salt used at 
the station costs $16 per ton there. The cost of bait is nothing. Besides the fish mentioned there 
is an abundance of fine clams. The sounds of the cod brought to Pirate Cove are said to be thin 
and tough. The heads are thrown away. Mr. Devine has a fine lot of pigs and chickens. While 
there is no lack of substantial fare at the station, the variety of the menu is enriched by the intro- 
duction of an entre called “Scotch dumplings,” made by filling with chopped cod-livers and corn 
meal the pokes or stomachs of cod, which are then tied up and boiled.- Mr. Devine told me that 
natives from Korovin Island come over to a cove near Pirate Cove to fish for salmon. In 1877 
they brought to Pirate Gove a silver salmon (Oncorhynchus chouicha) 5 feet long. The largest cod 
taken by his men would probably have weighed 50 pounds. Halibut have been known to reach 
300 pounds there. 
The fishermen of Saint Paul, Kodiak, use No. 12 Shanghai hooks. Their boat-anchors weigh 
13 pounds; the leads, for hand-lines, 5 pounds. The cost of bait is nothing; halibut, squid, and 
salmon, caught easily in the vicinity, being used. Six hundred fish in a day would be considered 
a large catch for one man now, 200 being the average. All the fishing for cod is done within easy 
reach of the shore or from the beach itself. The buyers of the fish furnish the lines and other 
gear and pay $20 per 1,000 for them dressed. 
I have elsewhere given a table showing the number of vessels engaged in the Pacific cod 
fishery from 1865 to 1880, from which it will be seen that the fleet was at its minimum in 1872 
when only five vessels were employed, and largest in 1870 in which year twenty-one were engaged. 
