, 1888-04-05
Fishermen's Rights.

The following is Judge swans letter
TO Senrtor Dolph. 1t was read in the U,
S. senate, and printed as miscellaneous
| document:
PoRT TOWNSEND, WASH, Mar 7 'SS.
SENATOR: 1 have the honor to in
form you Of the arrival here of the
first vessel Of the Gloucester, Mass,
| fishing tieet-the schooner MOUie
Adams, Captain Johnson, which ar
rived here on the Sd instant. This
vessel is owned by Capt. Solomon
Jacobs, Gloucester, who has taken
command Of her, and she sails to-day
on sealing expedition from eff the
mouth OF the Columbia, following
the he'd north. Seals are reported
as being unusually numerous this
season and are in myriads. Califor-
MIA steamers report running through
one herd which extended 100 miles,
and the seals appeared to be as thick
as they could swim After the seal
ing season Is over the schooner will
engage III the halibut and codfshery
aud send their catch in ice to the
Eastern markets.
Another of Captain Jacobs schoon-
ers, the Webster, will be here in
April. and several others will be here
tIia season. Next year between fifty
and sixty vessels are expected, and
they will be followed by others, and
within two years colony Of several
hundred OF these fisherman will be
here to develop the wealth now dor
mant and hidden il our waters.
Since I returned from Queen Char.
loites Islands, in 1888, [ have per-
sistently urged on Professor Baird
the necessity OF sending one of the
U. S. Fish Commission steamers to
the Pacific to develop our fisheries,
and shortly before Professor Biard's
lamented death he wrote me that the
AlbatrOSS would be sent to our wa
ters, and she is now on her way out,
These Gloucester fishermen will
render valuable assistance to Capt.
Tanner 1t is to the fishermen of
Gloucester, Cape Cod, and the coast
of Maine, that the Z. 6, Fish Com
mission is largely indebted for much
of the valuable information respect
ing the Atlantic fisheries. which has
been published by that admirable
bureau of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion
Hitherto no Protection has been
given our Pacific fishermen by our
Government. The treaty of 1918
does not alIude to the Pacific coast,
nor does the pres Mt treaty, so far as
1 am informed, make any provision
for or allusIon to the fisheries of the
North Pacif, British Columbia
is, as it were, sandwiched between
Washington and Alaska; our inter
ests are indenticel, and at present
the most harmonious and kindly fecl-
ing exist between the people of Brit
Ish Columbia and ourselves. Every
steamer for Alaska which takes the
waters OF British Coiumbia, affordinS
means of delightful recreation 10
thousands OF tourists This kindly
feeling should be encouraged, and
particularly in reference 10 our fish :
ermen who wish to fish tho waters of
the coast from the Columbia to Alas
ka.
But these New England fishermen
ask moro than to fish along the coast:
they wish to explore the waters OF
Behring Sea and the Arctic Ocean,
and TO be permitten TO tako any OF
the products of the ocean in Amer
lean waters without the annoyance
they have been subjected to for SC
many years on the Canadian coasts
of the Atlantic.
Ever since the lease Of the Prlby-
Ioy Islands to the Alaska CONNER
cial Company, that powerful monop'
oily has persisteutly deceived the
Congress of the United States and
the American people by arrogantly
asserting that all the fur seals of the
North Pacific Ocean ccngregate or
the Islands of Saint Paul and Saint
George, "nd that the indiscrilninal,
slaughter of those seals would sooI
exterminate the race. Tho latter
part of this assertion is true, but the
first, ! assert, is physical impossi-
bility. The seals of the North Paci
fic, in countless myriads, could not
by any process of their own, fine
room on those two comparatively in
significant islands, and l am prepar
ed to prove that the southern seals
from the Gulf of. Tehuantepec anC
Gull of California, which come nortl
every season, differ from the seal
OF the Pribyloy Islands, and neye
haul ort'' Oh that group, The III
discriminate siaG~hter of fnr seal
il early days on the island OF Alassa
fuero, on che coast of Chilli, and oI
the Benito Islands OF Lower Call
| fornia, drove the seals away fror