The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-01-29
PROTECTION FOR THE FISH
National Bureau Will Look After
The Finny Tribe.
COMMISSIONER BOWEAS HAS A PLAN
Has Set Out to Teach a Lesson to
the States in the
West.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29.-AH fus-
sy over the attitude of number of
western states, including Washington
and Oregon, in regard to the protec-
ton of fishes, Commissioner George M.
Bowers, of the bureau of fisheries, has
set out to teach those states a lesson
that they ought to know. He would
be happy if Secretary Metcalf of the
department of commerce and labor,
| under whose supervision the fisheries
! bureau comes, would follow his adj
vice to discontinue all government
| fishery work in those states that Eek
nibits no healthy sentiment in favor
| of the preservation of their supply of
| food and game fishes" There are
| few other punitive measures he would
| take in spanking the western states.
| California has been very thoughtful
the commissioner believes, in it's pro-
vision to insure the unimpaired per-
petuation of the various species, par
| ticularly salmon. But Oregon and
| Washington! He speaks Of the curtail-
| ing of the already too short closed
| seasons" on the Columbia and other
| rivers, by the erection of impossible
| dams in streams that salmon are wont
! to ascend to spawn, and by the "un-
l -t,.ia = feJ,i
| in localities where they are known to
| be unnecessarily destructive"
A pernicious example of the unre-
| stricted operation" says he, lis the
multiplication of pound nets and gill
| nets about the mouth of the Skagit
river on Puget sound, Notwithstanding
the well-knOwn fact that it is the
only stream in that region in which
there is a noteworthy run of blueback
or sock-eye salmon for spawning pur
poses, and that the only hatchery op-
| Grated chiefly for this species is To-
| Gated on Baker lake, at the head of
| that stream. The present indications
| are that the Baker Lake hatchery may
shortly have to be abandoned, be-
cause the run of fish will have been
annihilated.''
The western states might take a
little more care of fish in streams
| that feed irrigation fumes. In some
states, the commissioner says, the de-
struction of fish life from this cause,
formed persons have told him that
extinction in the near future is the
natural outcome of the course pursued
by state officials of Montana. The
commissioner in event that Montana
and other states do not look after
their own fish, will urge congress to
pass law requiring some continuance
to be placed at the head of bitches to
| brighten fishes away from the intake
and prevent their being washed out
upon the land to die.
And right now is the time that the
bureau has in mind doing so mauy
| things for the Pacific coast. Among
| these is continued efforts to acclimate
the eastern lobster to the Pacific
| conditions. No other fishery product
of the eastern seaboard would be
such a boon, the commissioner claims.
He would plant large quantities in
California, Oregon, Washington and
Alaska.
Commissioner Bowers SAYS that
during the last year the Pacific
salmons were propagated in larger
numbers than ever before, but that the
output of shad in that country was
much smaller than usual The ope-
rations of the salmon Matching sta
| tons on the Sacramento river were
| more extensive than ever before. but
| the work on the Columbia was dis
couragins
Commissioner Bowers wants the
state of California to transplant the
golden trout from Volcano Creek.
now its only habitat, to surrounding
| streams. President Roosevelt some
time ago asked the bureau to do