UTILIZATION OF THE FISH WASTE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 55 
DISTRIBUTION AM) QTJ LNTH I i S. 
On the Pacific coast of the United States the two commercially 
important kelps, Nereoeystis and Macrocystis, 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 have 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. Xear 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 Joila Marine Biological Institute ; those of Puget Sound and Alaska, by Profs. 
T. C. Frye and G. B. Rigg, of the University of Washington. 
