ALBATROSS EXPLORATIONS; ALASKA, WASHINGTON, AND OREGON. 33 
ALASKAN METHODS OF CURING COD COMPARED WITH THOSE OF NEW ENGLAND, 
Mr. Ivan Petroff, in his “Eeport on the Population, Industries, and Eesources of 
Alaska,” page 69, states that “ a peculiarity of the Alaska codfish industry is that 
the fish is not cured in the vicinity of the banks. The cod is only cleaned and 
pickled on board of the carrying craft, taken down to San Francisco and there pickled 
anew, being finally taken out and dried in quantities to suit the market. Expert fish- 
ermen located on the Shumagin Islands and at Kadiak claim that the fish could be 
cured on the spot as well as it is done at Cape Ann and other Atlantic cod-fishing 
stations. It is difflcult to understand the reason for the process adopted by these San 
Francisco firms. The repeated pickling certainly does not serve to enhance the 
quality of the Shumagin codfish, and it is probably owing to this fact that the eastern 
codfish commands a higher price in the markets of the Pacific coast.” 
Mr. PetrolTs statements are somewhat misleading, as the New England fishing 
vessels which visit the East coast fishing banks on “ salt trips” bring back their catch 
in precisely the same condition as do the vessels sent out from San Francisco to the 
fishing grounds of Alaska and the Ochotsk Sea. The eastern cod are much larger in 
size than the average fish which have hitherto been obtained in the North Pacific, and 
the greater care exercised in curing them may account for their more inviting appear- 
ance. To these qualities possessed by the Atlantic cod, combined with the universal 
prejudice in favor of supplies coming from old and well-known sources, is due the higher 
price which these fish command in the markets of the Pacific coast. 
THE LAY OF THE ALASKAN FISHERMEN. 
The lay of the Alaskan fishermen difiers considerably from that of the New 
England fishermen. The captain is paid a stated sum per month and has no share in 
the cargo. The mate receives a monthly salarj, and also a certain sum for every 
thousand fish caught. Each of the crew receives $25 per thousand fish ; splitters, $50 
per month ; salters, $40 per month ; cooks, $60 per month. On the return from a trip 
the crew has nothing moye to do with the vessel, taking no part in the discharging of 
the cargo, which is done entirely at the expense of the owners. The cod livers are 
never saved, and a profitable portion of the fish is thereby thrown away. 
THE YELLOW-FISH. 
Mr. Pavlofif states that the yellow-fish (Pleurogrammus monopterygius) varies in size 
in different places. Those taken at Unalashka are much smaller than those found at 
Atka Island and on the fishing grounds south of the Aleutian Chain. They are not 
abundant about Belkovsky. None were secured by the Albatross during its cruise. 
This species is regarded by those who have eaten it as superior to any other on the 
coast of Alaska as an article of food. 
The yellow-fish usually approach the Shumagin Islands about the latter part 
of August, and remain in that region in immense schools until the beginning of cold 
weather, when they retire to the deep water south of Shumagin Bank. They can 
probably be caught by the same methods employed in the mackerel fishery on the 
Atlantic coast. They are distributed along the coast for many hundred miles, and 
Bull. U. S. F. C., 88 3 
