The herald., 1895-05-28
DIFFERENTIATION OF SALMON
Attention OF the Government Called to
the Matter
Unless the Gamers in Alaskan Waters Are
Checked the Fish Will fleet the
Fate of the Seals

WASHINGTON, May 27.-The rapid in
roads which fishing and packing COM
panies have made on the supply OF sal
mon in the Alaskan rivers has given
great concern to the government fol- sew
eral years past, since it became evident
that the fish were destined to the same
fate of determination which has over
taken the buffalo is being visited on the
fur bearing seals OF the northern waters.
All the attempts to secure effective re-
straining legislation from congress has
proven practically without result, but
a new phase of the canning syndicate
operations is now engaging the attention
of the land Office, which may result i'll
measures that will have the effect OF re.
straining the enterprise OF some of the
companies engaged in the business.
1t has recently been brought to the at
tention of Commissioner Lamoreaux OF
the land office that the salmon companies
are acquiring much land at the mouths
of the rivers where they are engaged and
prompting strategical points OF fntule COM
merce Consequently the commissioner
has detailed Mr.. J. p. Swineford, an ex
governor of Alaska who is now an in
spector OF the interior department. to
keep the department posted, that it may
know that all the requirements OF the law
are complied with. The cannery COM
panles have asked that surveys be made
by the government of lands on which
they have settled with a view of their ac-
ouisition. Mr.. Swineford will sail from
Seattle for AlaskaSon the 25th.
The present governor of Alaska. in his
last report to the secretary of the interior,
called attention to the inroads being
made on the salmon and the same sub
ject was treated in report to The Fifty
third congre by Fish Commissioner. Nc
Donald.
Mr.. Mcdonald then recommended that
some or all the fish measures be adopted
for the protection of the fish, weekly
close season from Saturday evening to
Monday morning, yearly close season
during September and October. the estab-
lishment of salmon reservations, aoso-
lutte prohibition of salmon fishing within
100 yards of the mouth CT river, abso-
Lutte prohibition of more than me seine
to same seine berth, and leasing of privi-
leges and limitations of the catch. No
authority is given to the fish commits
sioner to enforce any restrictive meas
ures, this power belonging entirely to
the treasury department. There is par
ticularly no law to be enforced, however,
foi the only legislation ever adopted was
an act of 1889. prohibiting the erection
of dams or distractions to prevent the
ascent OF salmon into their spawning
grounds, and it is rather difficult to carry
this into effect, since all inspection has
to be done by one agent of the treasury
department. Dr. Hugh Smith, one of
| the experts of the fish commission. be-
| lieves that the extinction of the Alaska
| fish is inevitable if the present methods
continue unchecked. Every fish that
| swims, he says, can be caught at the
mouths OF the rivers, and as matter of
| fact few salmon now reach the old spawn
| ing grounds in the rivers of Alaska.
| More than half the salmon pack of the
! United States and nearly half of the
worlds supply now comes from Alaska
| 1t will be shown in paper to be pre-
! pared for publication by DR.. William M.
| Wilcox of the fish commission that the
| capital invested amounts to more than
| 50, 600. 000 and the value OF the season S
catch, not including the manufactured
| products therefrom, comes to about 81
| 600. 100. Last year there were twenty two
canneries IN operation. which packed
| 664. 900 cases-a case holding forty eight
| pound packages--and twenty-four sailing
| establishments put on the market 2l, 900
barrels of salt salmon. The largest pack
| which has been made in the Alaskan waters
| was that of 1891, when So 900, 600 pounds
| of salmon were shipped to the markets
| of the Pacific coast for distribution.
| The PROPORTIONS which the business had
| then reached alarmed the companies en-
; gagged in it TO prevent injurious competi-
! ton. and an agreement was made to limit
| the output little more than one-hall OF
! the capacity Of: the works. In lS9lithe
| number of men employed was 400, and
| IN 1892 it was reduced to 1884. Even with
| this com binatiOn in effect the fish have
| been killed off from year to year so that
the supply is surely decreasing at a great
| rate. The greater part OF the catch is
made at the mouth OF the karluk river.
Experts of the fish commission assert that
| the kinds of seines used operate to bar
| the way so effectually oce ueing placed
| behind another that practically all of the
! fish are caught at the mouths of the
rivers. Thus they are prevented from
reaching their spawning grounds and
their production is prevented. 1t was
| only after the salmon fisheries of the Co.
] lumba and other Pacific rivers had been