264 
BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
THE FISHERY 
EARLY HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 
Although the Prince William Sound herring fishery originated at a comparatively 
recent date, only a few scattered references indicate when it had its inception. In 
1913 the Prince William Sound Fish Co. reported to the United States Bureau of 
Fisheries pickling 20,000 pounds of herring, and selling 1,600 pounds as halibut bait 
at Kiniklik. In 1914 the Pacific Fishermen credits this company with 42,800 pounds 
of pickled herring, and also refers to a company in Valdez handling herring exclusively. 
In 1915 the only reference in the Pacific Fishermen is of a shipment of 2,400 pounds 
of herring from Seward. In 1916 the same journal mentions the establishment of a 
herring saltery by J. A. Linseth at Kiniklik. 
In 1917, to offset the shortage of imported herring caused by the World War, 
the United States Bureau of Fisheries sent Aug. H. D. Klie and several assistants to 
Alaska to introduce the Scotch method of curing herring, hoping thereby to prepare a 
commodity acceptable to the general trade. Clarence L. Anderson was assigned to the 
Prince William Sound region. In that year 137,400 pounds of pickled herring (229,- 
458 raw) were recorded from Cordova, Kiniklik, and Evans Bay. In addition, a cold 
storage plant was built at Seward that sold 125,000 pounds of herring as halibut bait. 
The Prince William Sound fishery can really be said to date from 1918. Owing 
to the World War, prices of foodstuffs were high. As a consequence, in that year, 
plants were built at Thumb Bay, Latouche, and Evans Bay. For the first ti m e opera- 
tions were begun in the early summer instead of waiting until the fish schooled near 
the spawning grounds in the late fall and winter, at which time, although the fish are 
more easily caught, they are too thin to be of much value. 
The 1918 pack was, in general, poorly prepared. As a result the operators had 
difficulty in marketing, and prices were low. However, the larger fish taken in Prince 
W illiam Sound gave the packers in this district an advantage over those in south- 
eastern Alaska, as the buyers would not accept the smaller selections. Thus in south- 
eastern Alaska the quantities of herring used for pickling fell from 21,000,000 pounds 
in 1918 to 5,400,000 pounds in 1919, while in Prince William Sound 7,200,000 and 
7,100,000 pounds were used in the two years. 
The canning of kippered herring was initiated in 1916 in southeastern Alaska, 
reaching a peak in 1919 of 5,000,000 pounds in southeastern Alaska and 2,600,000 
pounds in Prince William Sound. All efforts to find a satisfactory market failed, 
however, and this project was abandoned. 
In 1920 two reduction plants were installed to handle the waste from the pickling 
operations (Table 1), utilizing 10,400,000 pounds of herring. 
Table 1 . — Capacity of Prince William Sound reduction plants in tons of fish used per hour 
i Drier Bay plant operated for only few days early in season, so rated at one-half capacity in the total for all plants. 
j Port Benny plant used only one seine boat, so rated at one-half capacity in the total for all plants. 
