| Summary: | HALIBUT WILL BE TAGGED BY THESE MEN : International Fisheries Commission Party Leave Today For North On Scientific Mission. HALIBUT WILL BE TAGGED BY THESE MEN International Fisheries Commission Party Leave Today For North On Scientific Mission To take up the quest for scientific knowledge of the halibut fishing industry at the point where shipwreck halted them last spring, five members of the international fisheries commission expect to leave Seattle today for Alaska, where they will spend the next four months in lonely investigation. The ill-fated Scandia, which set out on a similar mission a year ago, was wrecked on a reef near Kodiak Island on February 23. Although the crew barely escaped, the data that had been compiled were saved. HEAVIER BOAT The Dorothy, a large Diesel-powered halibut vessel, will be used this year. F. H. Bell, in charge of the scientific party, will be assisted by R. V. Butt, W. C. Herrington, O. Ericksen and a wireless operator. The new vessel in every way is superior to the one that was loss. It has a cruising speed of over ten knots an hour, is 130 tons gross displacement and has a ninety-three foot keel. It is manned by a complete fishing crew under Capt. O. Hvatum. Investigations consist in charting the life habits, spawning, migration and growth of halibut. The first objective will be Port-lock Bank, off Kodiak Island, about 1,400 miles away, where the investigations will be carried on until Christmas. There the bulk of the work will consist of tagging fish, making racial measurements of fish and collecting scales and otoliths, a little bone in the ear of the fish from which age is determined. The tagging, which will be carried on under the supervision of Herrington, is being done to determine the direction of migration and the growth. Tags are numbered and registered and can be checked when returned by fishermen. RACIAL MEASUREMENTS Racial measurements will be carried on by Bell. In this work, fish caught and too badly hurt to tag and put back in the water will be measured to find out how much they vary in different sections. The study of the age and size of the fish at maturity, and the investigations of lengths of both sexes, will be part of Butt's duties. The Dorothy lies at the fisherman's dock, Ballard. The crew and scientific party number fifteen men. F. W. Thompson, director in chief, and his assistant, H. A. Dunlop, will join the party in the North after Christmas.
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