The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-08-25

arc IN the waters ot the luluinDih
along the North shore. Three or
four hundred Of these fish traps there
Rrc, II Il said. and the poles used In
their construction give the appearance
somewhat OF dead forest, For miles
along the shore there Is nothing 70
be seen but these fish traps, and one
IL moved 10 wonder how any of the
salmon ever make their way through.
The business Of catching the FISH in
the traps Is carried on In a manner
that Is little short Of stupendous, II
one Is to Judge by the thousands Of
poles that 20 to make ZIP the hum
dfeds Of traps. Entirely aside from
the economic side Of the question, this
forest Of dead poles arising out OF
the water give rise 10 other considera-
tiops. To one who loves the beau-
tbs OF the waters, the waters either
An their calms or in their wrathful
storms, the presence OF these dead
poles strike on the senses almost as
a dissertation. They mar. and give no
touch OF beauty, or OF picturesque
ness But of course In an age that Is
purely utilitarian an objection OF this
nature cannot even find listeners to
give II respectful attention. That they
are constant and graveiy dangerous
menace to the lives OF the hundreds
OF drift net fishermen Is an objection
that will hardly receive any greater
attention, Tor In an age that Is merely
utiltarian the lives Of few fisher
men more or less means nothing TO
those who would line their pockets
with the gold that comes from the
annual fish harvest, But there Is an
other objection. Some OF these fish
traps are abandoned, and in the course
OF months and in the course OF years
many more will be abandoned. Yet
when 4 fish trap is abandoned its nu-
merous piles are not pulled up. They
stand there 10 mar the seascape.
stand there as a daily and nightly
menace to the very lives OF the fish
crmen who drift with their nets. and
II may be that many OF them will be
standing there for the next half cen
tury The great state Of Washington
has no law which requires an owner
OF FISH trap to remove il when he Is
done with it. Those piles may stand
until they decay at the top, and still
their lower portions, preserved in the
fresh water, will be there TO tear the
bottoms out of boats, 10 destroy nets.
and as a general shame to the govern
ment which permits such a thing.
Several days ago representative
Of the Astorian had the good fortune
TO make trip around the waters Of
the mouth OF the river, with Mr., Ole
], Settem. the water bailifF, in his pa
troll boat. Mr. II. G. Van Dusen, for
many years the master fish warden
OF the state, also was member Of
the party, and under Mr.. Settem's
guidance the trip was made a wonder
fully interesting one. II is the water
>bailif's duty to keep a close watch on
Me fishing in the river TO see that
th regulations are not broken and
this trip was one Of his regular pa
trolls, Outside Of the fishermen and
those others who make their livings
on The waters, there are probably
many in Astoria who have only a.
faint idea Of all that is going on out
on the river during the annual fish
harvest, and least OF all do they have
comprehensive idea OF the appear
ance of things there. To the writer
Of this story" it was all new, and the
impressions herein set down are not
those Of one who pretends to have
the slightest technical knowledge Of
the fishing industry,
There seems to be reasons inher-
ent in the fishing waters why the FISH
traps have never become common on
this side Of the river, and farther to
deter their use, Mr. Van Dusen is
said to have discouraged their con-
struction as much as was reasonably |
possibly during his incumbency in of
fice, There are few on the OregonA
shore; also there are several abandon |
ed ones Ii seems that recently the |
state OF Oregon passed law MAX
ing it obligatory on the owner of a
trap to pull up the piles when he
abandoned it, but the law was not
made retroactive, and hence those
traps on this side that had been aban-
doned previous to the passage of the
law still stand in the waters, and are
likely to stand there for many years
to come. a danger to all fishermen and
others, and shame--to someone.