THE HERRING INDUSTRY
The question of the proper use
of Herring has come to the front
very recently. In the last session
of the Legislature, the opinion was
strongly supported that herring
should not be used for fertilizer
and that such use of herring is
waste. The argument was simply
that herring was food fish and its
use for any other purpose than
food was waste. The reason the
Legislature did not go any further
in devising some means of stopping
the use of fertilizer was that (1st)
the subject came up too late to
give it the consideration it des
erved* and (2) an action not based
on the fullest, information would
not be fair to capital.
A very inst active article has
appeared in the Pacific Fisherman
on this subject, which we will
quote in part:
The Quality
“Herring; in vast quantities fre
quent the coastal waters of the
Pacific from Vancouver Island to
Nome, as well as on the Asiatic
side; but THOSE OF ALASKA
ARE ESPECIALLY SUITABLE FOR
FOOD BECAUSE OF THEIR
LARGE SIZE AND SUPERIOR
QUALITY, BEING PREFERRED
BY CONNOISSEURS TO THOSE
FROM ANY OTHER PART OF
THE WORLD. The extent and
possible produetivene. s of the fish
ery are not fully known, but ap
pear comparable to those of the
North Sea, which has for centur
ies been the chief source of supply
for the great population of Eu
rope.”
Development of the Industry
The pack prior to 1916 was less
than 9,000 barrels yearly. The ex
pansion of this industry began
with the war, which cut off the
European supply. With the ex
pansion of the industry, the “Nor
way style” became surplanted by
the Scotch method which is now
used almost exclusively. “Alaska
packers now felly realize that
they cannot compete with Europe
on prices, but must sell strictly on
a quality basis, and great care is
accordingly taken in the selection
and cure of the pack.”
Magnitude of Operations
“From 18,296 bbls. in 1916, the
Alaska pack increased to 145,326
bbls., and now averages about
100,000 bbls. a year; the 1914
production in the Southeastern dis
trict being about 14,000 bblfl. out
of the Alaska total of 77,151.
Relative Importance of Kinds
“Of even greater importance
than the cured product in this dis
trict is the output of herring oil
and meal, which last year amount
ed to about a million gallons of
oil and 3,500 tons of meal, and
will probably be increased this
year by over 50 per cent. Govern
ment figures for 1923, when only
six plants operated— most of
those on a much smaller scale
than at present— show an invest
ment in the Southeast Alaska her
ring fishery of $900,003, with the
production valued at $057,544, and
employment given to 312 persons.
“Eleven large establishments,
having both curing plants and re
duction works and comparable with
salmon canneries in size and equip
ment, have been operated this
year, besides a number of small
curing outfits; and the general
scale of operations may safely be
said to HAVE DOUBLED IN THE
LAST TWO YEARS.
“The curing; departments each
employ from six to twenty five
or more hands, while the reduct
ion plants are equipped with from
one to f( ur large units consisting
of cookers, presses, driers, and
auxiliary machinery, in addition to
oil tanks, warehouses and vessel;.
Fishing Methods
“Fishing is done almost entire
ly by purse seines, using boats and
gear of the largest size; and ap
proximately forty seine boats have
been fishing for herring this year,"
on the principal herring grounds
around Baranof Island and up
Chatham Strait.
The Season
“Operations are carried on from
May to September, during which
time the fish are in the best of
condition for either packing or
reduction. The fish are usually
brought t > the plants by the seine
boats.”
The Catch
The usual practice is to corral
immense quantities of herring by
enormous seines. Quantities of 10,
000 barrels caught in one haul
ore not uncommon. These catches
arc then either impounded in small
coves or bays (a natural pound)
or else a pound is made of wire.
On acccu it of the general use of
the small meshed seine, all kinds
of herring are caught. Large quan
tities of small herring unfit for
the Scotch cure are thus caught.
To prevent waste, as the packer
says, these small herring are used
to produce oil and fertilizer..
It is this practice that has caus
ed the controversy in Alaska. The
group of men led by C. B. Fergu
son of Craig, and William Paul
of Ketchikan,, branded by cannery
men as the “anti-capital group”
insist that herring should only be
caught by large meshed seines or
by gill nets so that the small
herring could escape either to grow*
into the largest sized herring or
else to serve as food for the king
salhion or cohoe that now provide
employment for the thousands rtf
ti'ollers that live in Alaska. The
“friends of capital” group, As the
cannerymen like to call themselves,
say that the supply of herring: can
not be depleted by any meins
whatever and so insist that they
should be allowed to catch and
use all the herring they can catch
for any purpose whatever. It is
this group that are now grinding
up almost fifty million pounds of
herring every month from May to
September and some of them later
for fertilizer and oil.
Additional Evils
Out of the herring which are
impounded in small bays or wire
pounds, often as hig'h as 2b per
cent are wasted this way; every
herring- needs a certain amount of
space of water in order to breathe.
When the herring* are impounded
in natural or artificial pounds,
large quantities of herring suffo
cate and die because they do not
have enough oxygen in the small
space provided. These dead herring
become a dead weight and either
sink to the bottom of the small
bay or to the bottom of the
artificial pound and are thrown
away. We have seen small bays
(by small bays we mean a bay
that may be half a mile square)
literally floored by dead herring
killed and wasted in this manner.
Information of this kind is not
printed in the Pacific Fisherman
because it might “hurt the busi
ness of valuable advertisers,” and
so we print it on our own auth
ority and can vouch for its being
true.
Fertilizer Herring
The Pacific Fisherman gives th?