The Nome nugget., 1941-06-13
Hospitals And Herring
(Juneau Ennpire)

(Juneau Empire)
 It is encouraging to read that the Senate has added to the h. terior Department supply bill ap propriations of S250,000 for treat ment of tubercular Alaska h. dians, S34,000 for investigation of causes of depletion of the Alas ka herring supply and S25,000 to continue the study of the king crab fisheries.
 As we have contended in these columns many times, facilities for, the treatment of tuberculosis are Alaska's greatest need. The hospital which the Senate wants built will be big step toward the day when we will really be able to cope with the disease in the North.
 The appropriation for the Her ring study brings to the nations attention a critical situation in an industry vital to national defense as well as Alaska economy. Prin cipally because the money for scientific research has not been available in the past, the Fish and Wildlife Service this year cut herring quotas and closed reduction plants with the result that Alaska's normal production of herring oil will be halved. The defense industries which rely up- on herring oil - and there are such industries will be serious ly hampered until production can be pushed back to the previous yield of approximately 5,000,000 gallons of oil.
 The $34,000 will enable the Fish and Wildlife Service to con- duct limited year-round survey of the fishing grounds. The spawn ing grounds of the herring in Southeast Alaska, Prince William Sound and the Kodiak district will be studied. The tagging of fish, now carried on in limited way in Southeast Alaska, will be extended to the other two main herring districts in order to learn the migration habits of the fish and give better indication as 10 the abundance of fish in those areas. The existence of such a re- search program will undoubtedly enable the Fish and Wildlife Ser vice to meet the present emer- gency by relaxing somewhat the restrictions placed on the indus try.
 The war has cut off from Am erican industry the supplies of Norwegian cod and herring oil normally used for Vitamin feed ing of poultry, cattle, and other stock, for the tanning of leather, for paint and soap manufacture These processors have turned to Alaska herring oil as a substi- tute, making it imperative that domestic production be kept at the highest possible level The leather people, busy on defense orders, are particularly concern ed. The importance of a full op- eration of the herring reduction plants in Alaska has been recog- hized by the Bureau of Materials of the Office of Production Man agement. And the President, by a proclamation issued March 27, has put fish oil under the export control system.
 In order to work out fishing regulations, the Fish and Wildlife SerVlce conducts a program or scientific research. With regard to the herring industry, however the extent of that research, due to the small budget available to the Service, is such as to make estimates of the abundance of fish very difficult. The present Alaska herring investigation has a staff of only one man and operates on a budget of $7,500, which must include wages, transportation, maintenance in the field scientific equipment, and so forth. It is patently impossible to conduct survey of a complex industry stretching over couple of thOll-