The morning call., 1890-11-29
OUR FOOD FISH.

Mr.. Z. W. Smiley of the Census Bureau is
now in this city, collecting statistics Of the
. fisheries of the Pacific Coast. His Office is
at rs Appraisers Building. where he will
be glad 10 receive I'M. 1lmation chi the sub
ject. No complete account OF the fishes
which in habit the coast waters of the Pacific
States has ever been published. MIR. Smiley 5
report if exhaustive and accurate, VIII I'LL a
long-felt want,
1t may be said broadly that the Pacific
Coast waters are more populous than the
Atlantic Coast waters; the only Eastern
food fish OF Importance which is absent here
being the blue fish, which has been de-
scribed as the scourge of the Atlantic. de-
stfoying ten times as many fish as ii needs
for food Speaking broadly again il may be
said that the leading food fish OF the world
are comprised in six great tribes ii
Gaddfe, or cod, haddock and whiting; the
Salmonide, which includes salmon and
trout; the Clupeide, or herring and shad !;
the PleuIonectiGfe, which embraces the tur-
bot, sole, founder, halibut and flat fish
generally; the Scombride, or mackerel; and
the Gyprinida, or carp, with their cousins
the percide or perch. All these fish are
found in the waters which wash the Pacific
Coast of the United States, in some places in
countless multidudes.
Their distribution is not uniform. In the
immediate vicinity of this port the true cod
is not found, and the mackerel is scarce. We
have number of fiat fishes, several mem
bers of the salmon family. and the herring,
shad, pike and perch. Besides these our
markets ale freely supplied with variety
of Scorpanide and sculpns, which are COM
monty called rock cod, though not belonging
10 The ed family at all, and smelt which is
no smelt, but q species of AtherinIdse. Other
fish which are taken in our waters are sold
as cod and have the lateral stripe of the true
gadus; but that noble fish on which millions
Of people live throughout the world is not
found south of Cape Flattery. North Of
Cape Reyes the true osmerus, or smelt. is
found in abundance, and is sold in our
markets as the silver smelt Shad is now
plentiful enough in the markets, having
been grown from roe imported from the
East
The great fisheries of our Pacific waters,
however, do not lie off this port. They are
situated south of US ard north of us. With
tile supply and habitat of the southern food
fishes we are imperfectly acquainted. 1t is
known that the waters surrounding the
islands which lie off the coast of California
south of Point Conception, and which vary
in size from mere Farallones to large tracts
OF arabic land, swarm with fish which are
snirable for food. Occasional reports Of the
extraordinary profusion of fish life in those
waters reach the newspapers. but the fish
have never been properly classified nor
their numbers estimated by scientific OBJ
servers. In his late work On California Mr..
Finck wonders that no one has undertaken
to turn this promising source of wealth to
account. That may come when Mr.. Smiley
publishes his report.
The northern fisheries are better known.
On that great plateau which skirts the coast
of Southern Alaska and British Columbia
Lieutenant Schwatka estimated that the
cod and halibut were far more numerous
than on the Banks of Newfoundland and
his statement has been found to be true by
the Gloucester fishermen who transferred
their vessels from Atlantic to Pacific waters
A fishing schooner can fill up with the finest
cod in the world 10 few days; il is merely
question in what space of time the lines
can be hauled up from depths of 100 to 200
fathoms. The fish are like the sands Of the
ocean which they inhabit. Further north
still travellers, who have not been accused of
exaggeratiOn, have described the shoals of
| salmon in some of the smaller rivers of
Alaska at times as being so dense that they
interfered with the progress of boats.
Here is chance for those who have failed
as vine-growers or miners, and who are
weary Of wheat-growing. Food will always
be property. Mankind must eat.