Flah and Wildlife Service 
Technological Laboratory 
2725 Moat lake Boulevard 
Seattle, Washington 
August 18, 1941 
1* E. fiackett , lac., 
9 Soekef oiler Plaza, 
Mew York, Hew York. 
Dr. Waldo Sehaitt has referred your letter of August 13 to 
this office for attention. 
A final report on the Service * a Alaska king crab investiga- 
tion will not be prepared until some tta© this winter. The Con- 
gress appropriated funds for extending the exploratory work 
throughout the turner and early fall, so w© will not attempt to 
sake recoEiaendst ions until all field data are in and analysed. 
The fishing vessel * Dorothy” and the small factory ship 
"fondeleyo” operated between the Shwa&gia Islands area and Kodiak 
Island last fall, without a great deal of success. At that par- 
ticular time of the year the crabs appear to be widely spread and 
in relatively deep water, except in a few stall bays which are 
suspected of being nursery ground® . However, a sufficient number 
of crab® were taken to permit experimental canning studies and a 
surplus of approximately 125 eases was sold at public sal® during 
the past month. 
The expedition of the "fondeleyo" and the "Dorothy” demon- 
strated quite definitely that an attempt to operate a cannery la 
connection with aa exploratory operation placed a serious handi- 
cap on the latter. Therefore, since there appeared to be no 
serious technological problem in preparing a satisfactory canned 
product, the Fish and Wildlife Service decided to discontinue the 
canning phase and to expand the effort to determine the distribu- 
tion of the crabs, their apparent abundance, the optimum time to 
fish for them, the most efficient fishery methods, .and such other 
aspects of their life history as would facilitate the development 
of a fishery of sufficient extent to support commercial cannery 
operations. Accordingly, an expedition of three fishing vessels 
