FISHERIES OF ALASKA IK 1909. 
49 
halibut fishing begins, about September 15. At present most of 
the herring for food and bait is taken between August 1 and May 
1, the fish being the rest of the year in the deep waters or having their 
stomachs filled with a red feed which burns them out very shortly 
after death, thus seriously affecting their value and usefulness as 
either bait or food. 
The establishment of several small freezers at places close to the 
halibut banks, where herring could be frozen and stored until needed 
in winter, when they are usually very scarce, would probably solve 
the problem of a constant and abundant supply of bait. Salmon 
backs could also be frozen and would undoubtedly make excellent 
bait for halibut. It is probable that the New England Fish Com- 
pany will devote part of its facilities to the freezing of bait for hali- 
but fishing, while there are several other propositions in this line 
under consideration at present in other towns in southeast Alaska. 
During the past summer the Canadian authorities issued an order 
in council prohibiting American fishing vessels from buying bait in 
British Columbia ports. Heretofore the halibut vessels operating 
in Dixon Entrance and Hecate Straits have been in the habit of 
purchasing their bait in Nanaimo, British Columbia, while on their 
way north, but this order compelled them to look elsewhere, and 
several of them visited southeast Alaska for the purpose. It is 
highly probable that more of them will do so each season if they can 
be assured of being able to get the bait when they come. 
THE FERTILIZER QUESTION. 
The scarcity of bait has again brought to the fore the question 
whether fertilizer plants should be permitted to utilize herring and 
other food fishes in their work. The present fisheries law does not 
prohibit such use of food fishes, and there is now one plant — that 
of the Alaska Oil and Guano Company, at Killisnoo, in southeast 
Alaska — engaged in the industry. The company gives employment 
to a number of the inhabitants of the town of Killisnoo, an Indian 
settlement, and each year between June and October disburses about 
$40,000 in wages to these natives and to the white employees. The 
plant is worth about $35,000. In 1909 it used 52,000 barrels of 
herring and 3,846 barrels of salmon (dog and humpback) in the 
preparation of fertilizer and oil. Two steamers, with purse seines, 
do the fishing. The fishermen complain that the use of these nets 
in the bays and sounds breaks up the schools, and that the quantity 
taken has been so large that the schools have suffered seriously in 
number and size. In justification of its use of herring and certain 
species of salmon the company has always made the plea that these 
