Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-05-08
WEALTH IN OUR WATERS
E. M. Day Writes of His Inter
views With Local Fish
ermen
The Superior Court Adjourns
for One Week---The Ting
ley Case
M. E. Downs Reports From
Wall Street---Local and
Personal

To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:
No Puget sound industry is more neg
lected than the fisheries. Some
salmon, haIibut and cod are taken, but
the fishermen in Bellingham bay and
the adjacent waters here, 50 far, found
the market limited to the local de-
mand. This might be good today but
glutted tomorrow, and the fisherman
compelled to salt his fish or dump them
back into the bay. Few people seem
to realize the extent of the fisheries
here, and while the "Columbia river
salmon" are known all over the world,
our fish have no name indicating the
locality where they are taken. Those
who are capable of judging claim that
if there is any difference between
salmon running in the Columbia river
and those in Bellingham bay and adj
jacent waters, our silver salmon are
superior. The canneries at Semiah-
moo, twenty-five miles northwest of
here, are reported to have cleared
$40, 900 last season on salmon, and yet,
with the money Of Fairhaven people
tied up in real estate or lying idle
waiting for booms, so far we have al
lowed one of the most valuable indus
tries to lie dormant at our very doors.
The writer has spent the greater part
of week visiting the fishermen and
discussing the possibilities of this sea-
sons catch and their ability to take
the fish. One fisherman who has been
engaged in fishing on this Sound for
six years, gave the information that
silver salmon, the most valuable
variety, run here every other season
with unfailing regularity. As they
did not run here last year they are due
this year to pass through Bellingham
bay on their way up the Nooksa *
river, where they go to spawn. The
run commences in June and continue
until fall, the greater number appear
ing during the early part Of July.
When the salmon come up out of the
deep water they pass toward the
mouth of the Nooksack along the
banks of the Lummi reservation. The
shoal wafer on the flats is about four
uttD anu llht Eiouhho
for fishing with gill-nets and seins.
Captain Parker, an old fisherman, has
800 fathoms of net and three boats, one
large sailboat and two rOwboats, and
can take from 10000 to 5000 pounds
per night when the fish are running
| full. There are no less than six fisher
men who are operating on the bay and
adjoining waters, and the catch this
"a
sure market was opened to them.
Most of these men are now otherwise
engaged or are catching halibut IN
deep water, using herring for bait,
One man said he caught $36 worth oi
halibut in a day, but it does not take
much to overstock the market. A
little inquiry as TO what price the fish
ermen could lay the fresh silver salmon
down for at the wharf, ELECTED the in
formation that they could be delivered
at II cents per pound for the entir'
seasons catch. The fish can be deliv
cred at II cents each of an average
weight Of ten pounds.
The most profitable and expeditions
method of handling these salmon
would be to ship them directly to th'
large Eastern distributing cities in car
load lots in refrigerator cars. The fisl
are taken out at night and could b.
delivered in the early morning at thu
cold storage warehouse where the,
would be reduced to temperature
little above freezing. Next they coulC
be packed in convenient-sized boxe
and transferred to refrigerator cars an'
shipped East by fast trains, laying
them down in Boston, New York, o
at any intermediate city, as fine an'
fresh as the day on which they wer
taken out of the water. The retail
market price for prime silver salmon
fresh, is about % to 25 cents per pound
Transportation and handling, commits
sions, ETC., are the principal items G
cost. The writer is informed tina
these silver salmon are the highes
priced fish i'm the market, and sold 70
quarter of dollar pound agains
the blue fish of the Atlantic waters O
3 to 5 cents. 1t is hoped that tn
$50, 900 worth of fish which may b
taken and marketed this summer o
Bellingham bay will not be allowed {
go to waste for lack of a little capital [
handle the business, and "A little energ
TO put the ball i'm motion. The time !
which to prepare for it is very brie
but it can be done if immediate actio
is taken. Let us see that this valuabl
product which is going to waste
turned into money and made to b'
come one of the means of injectin