PACIFIC HERRING 
283 
having weight-] ength curves at comparable seasons for all of these localities, we shall 
use the weight-length curve for Halibut Cove (fig. 33) in making comparisons 
between the weight for any given age in different localities shown in Figure 29. 
Using these weights, at 6 years of age the Stephens Passage herring would weigh 
91 grams, the Dutch Harbor herring 253 grams, or 2.8 times as much. Since the 
smallest-sized herring packed as a “medium” is over 10 % inches in total length, or 
about 225 millimeters in body length, and 170 grams in weight, the Stephens Passage 
herring do not attain a size suitable for packing as “mediums” until about 9 or 10 
years of age. On the other hand, the Dutch Harbor herring at only 6 years of age 
are being packed chiefly as “large” (11% to 12% inches). The differences between 
Figure 29. — Growth curves showing the age-length relationship 
the other localities are not so great, 6-year-old Dutch Harbor herring being only 
about 19 per cent heavier than those of Halibut Cove and 62 per cent heavier than 
those of Ellington Passage. 
The evidence shows that the growth curve for Stephens Passage is not repre- 
sentative of southeastern Alaska as a whole. If the data for Larch Bay were plotted 
(Table 28), the curve would come very slightly below that of Elrington Passage. 
Since the Larch Bay sample was preserved in formalin the curve would probably 
be very close to that of Elrington Passage, if one allows a trifle for shrinking of the 
length. 
Farther south in British Columbia, Thompson (1917, p. S64) obtained data at 
Nanaimo and Point Grey in the Strait of Georgia, and at Kildonan on the west 
coast of Vancouver Island, that show them to have a rate of growth comparable 
