The business of catching, preserving and selling fish gives employment
probably to more than 10,000 men in this state and adds probably
four million dollars annually to its wealth production. The fishes
include salmon, which is the chief commercial species, cod in many
varieties, halibut, salmon trout, perch, sole, flounders, smelt,
herring, sardines, oysters, clams, crabs and shrimp from its salt
waters, and sturgeon, trout, perch, black bass, white fish and
many others from the fresh water. Great quantities of salmon and
halibut are shipped in ice-packed boxes, fresh from the waters,
to all parts of the nation. Of these fish, many salmon, halibut
and cod are caught in Alaskan waters and brought into this state
to be cured and prepared for the market.
The salmon are chiefly packed in tin cans after being cooked; the
cod are handled as are the eastern cod, dried and salted. The business
of handling the smelts, herring, etc., is in its infancy, as is
also that of the shellfish.
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The propagation of oysters, both native and eastern, is assuming
great importance in many places in the state. In Shoalwater bay,
Willipa bay, Grays harbor, and many of the bays and inlets of Puget
Sound, oysters are being successfully grown. In some instances
oyster farms are paying as much as $1,000 per acre. The state has
sold many thousand acres of submerged lands for this purpose. It
has also reserved several thousand acres of natural oyster beds,
from which the seed oysters are annually sold at a cheap price to
the oyster farmers, who plant them upon their own lands and market
them when full grown.
The native oysters are much smaller than the eastern oysters and
of a distinct flavor, but command the same prices in the market.