The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-05-28
SALMON NOW SCARCE
ALASKAN GAMERS RAPIDLY EXTER-
MENATING A FISH.


roads which fishing and packing companies
have made on the supply Of salmon in
the Alaskan rivers has given great concern
TO the government for several years past,
since il became evident that the fish were
-, destined to the same fate Of eXtermina-
ton which has overtaken the buffalo and
is being visited upon the fur-bearing seals
of the northern waters. All attempts to
secure effective restraining legislation from
Congress have proven practically without
result, but a new phase of the canning syn
dicate's operations is now engaging the at
tention of the Land Office, which may re-
suit in measures that will have the effect
of restricting the enterprise of some of the
companies engaged in the business. Ii has
recently been brought to the attention of
Commissioner Lamoreaux, of the General
and Office. that the salmon companies are
acquiring much land at the mouths of the
rivers, where they are engaged In pre-
empting strategical points of future COM
has detailed Mr.. j. Il. Swineford, an eX-
Governor of Alaska, who Is now an IN
spector of the Interior Department., to
make an investigation of the matter and
keep the department posted, that 1t may
know that all the requirements of the law
are compiled With. The cannery companies
have asked that surveys be made by. the
government of lands on which they have
settled, with a view to their acquisition.
Mr.. Swineford will sail from Seattle for
Alaska on the 18th.
The present Governor of Alaska, in his
last report to the Secretary of the Interior,
called attention to the inroadS being made
upon the salmon, and the same subject was
treated in a report in The Fifty-second
Congress by Fish Commissioner Melon
aid. Mr.. Mcdonald then that
some or all of these fish measures be adopt
ed for the protection of the fish; a weekly
close season, from Saturday evening TO
AI.n1nty a lanHly alnon nQOnn
during September and October, and the es-
tablishment of salmon reservations; abso-
lutte prohibition of salmon fishing within
one hundred yards OF the mouth OF a
river; prohibition of the use of more than
one seine in the same seine berth, and
leasing of privileges and limitations of the
catch. No authority is given TO the Fish
Commissioner to enforce any restrictive
measures, this power belonging entirely 10
the Treasury Department. There is prac-
tically no law to be enforced. however, for
the only legislation ever adopted was an
act Of 1889, prohibiting the erection of dams.
and Instructions to prevent the ascent of
salmon to their spawning grounds, and 1T
is rather difficult to carry this into effect,
since all inspection has to be done by one
DR.. Hugh Smith, one of the experts of the
Fish Commission, believes that the eXtinc-
ton of the Alaska fish is inevitable IL the
PRESENT. methods continue unchecked. Every
fish that swims, he says, can be caught at
the mouths of the rivers. and, as a matter
OF fact, few salmon now reach the old
NAO ~
More than half of the salmon pack of the
United States and nearly half of the worlds
supply now comes from Alaska. 1t will be
shown in a paper to be prepared for publi-
cation by DR.. William A. Wilcox, of the
Fish Commission, capital invested in these
nsherles amounts to more than S,OO0,Ooo and
the value OF the seasonal catch, not includ-
ing the manufactured products therefrom,
comes to about 100000 Last year there
were twenty-five canneries in operation
which packed 646, 600 cases "a case holding
forty-eight pound packages), and twenty
the market 21,N0 barrels of salt salmon.
The largest pack which has been in the
Alaskan waters was that Of 1881 when 500
600 cases, the equivalent of 100000 pounds
OF salmon, as they are taken from the
water. were shipped to the markets of the
Pacific coast for distribution. The proper
tons which the business had then reached
alarmed the companies engaged in it, and
TO prevent injurious competition an agree
ment was made to limit the output to little
more than one-half of the capacity OF the
works. In 1891 the number of men employed
was 4.7f. and in 1892 it was reduced to
2.SS4. Even with this combination in effect,
the fish have been killed off from year to
year, SO that the supply is surely and rapid
ly decreasing.
The greater part of the catch is made at
the mouth of the karluk river. Experts of
the Fish Commission assert that the kinds
J of seines used operate to bar the way so
effectually, one being placed behind another,
that practically all of the fish are captured
at har 19e NOUNS }r6m OF re sn e myers ibe dnus s ane wn ARE
grounds, and their reproduction is prevent
ed. 1t was only after the salmon fisheries
OF the Columbia and other Pacific rivers
had been greatly overworlSed that resort
was had to the product of the Alaskan
rivers, and the government was awakened
to its negligence in falling to restrict the
fishermen of Oregon and Washington. Now
a weekly closed season is in effect in the
waters Of these States. Cod and herring
are already being caught in small quanti-
ties, and there is mucn opportunity for en-
terprise in the development of the new fish
cries. The Fish Commission has collected
much information concerning the food fish
| Of Alaska. which shows that there are many
undeveloped fisheries furnishing great COM
| mercial possibilities for the future.