The Alaska daily empire., 1913-04-08
Agree That Fish Must
 Have Better Protection
Continued from Page 1.)

Wlldl lt NONAN NV a
 control of the fishing industry and wanted to protect it for himself MT. Heckman replied that he would make some regulations and enforce them. What regulations?
 MT. Heckman stated tha t he thought traps should be curtailed-a cannery that now has seven should be reduced to five. No more should be allowed to be constructed and no trap should be allowed within mile of a salmon stream. Seines and all sorts of other fishing gear should be kept 1900 feet from any stream. It would not be necessary to limit the number of seines. The season should be closed earlier-not later than Sep tember 1. in his section of the coun- try. He would have fast power boats with inspectors aboard to see that the regulations were enforced.
 Nels Nelson, of Petersburg, said that he had been fishing in Alaskan waters since 1887. He lives in Peters burg and has family there. He went into the history of the town showing how it had developed under the fish ing industry into a thriving place and was supporting population of fisher folk who built their homes there, were schooling their children and be- coming attached to the soil Then he pictured the ruin that was staring them in the face because fish, their only resource were being eXterminat' ed. This he attributed to traps most | ly sbut acknowledge that other forms of fishing had helped in bringing about the results. AS superintendent of canneries he knew methods of op' erating and of getting the seasons pack. He could verify the statements made by Mir. Lewis the Indian who charged that white men ravaged the Anan because he put up the pack at Santa Ana. With the new method >oi purse seines and power boats salmon were caught in deep water and it was not necessary to drag the streams The increasing number of traps were depicting the waters of not only sal mon but were catching halibut ant other fish that should be left for the winter fishing. He agreed with Mir Bell that there must be some protec ton for the fish-not on account o the capital invested in the business but because of the people that depend ed upon that industry for livlihood He would like to have more hatcher ies-they might get to be success He was in favor of restricting the seiners and operators of other gear tc a mile limit of spawning streams and of fast power boats and inspectors to catch the violators of the law ir the fishing streams. His remedy is: Abolish the traps; laws strictly en forced on selnes.
 Rev. Father Kashevaroff, who is now fifty years of age was born al Kodiak and has lived on the coast oi Alaska practically all his life. Fla ther Kashaveroff says that he has ob served the salmon and knows that the supply is being diminished. He gave some very interesting details and historical facts to show that his claim that the salmon are fast disap bearing is well founded He had seer 10000 reds caught at Karluk in one haul-now reds were very rare. The fact that fish were getting scarce was so noticeable that it could not be de nied. Word came from the church missions all along the coast and uI to Nushagak that salmon were scarce and the natives were unable to get enough for their wants. When asked why, he replied that the waters were fshed out. Rev. Kashaveroff's rem edy is to close the season one month earlier than at present and give the salmon a chance to reach the spawn ing grounds.
 K. J. Johnson, of Wrangell, said that his occupation used to be that of fish erman and that later he was a fish buyer, but that now he was in the transportation business. He said that he was glad of an opportunity to tell what he knew of the fishing industry in Alaska. It is his belief that traps are the most destructive gear now in use. He had had an opportunity to study traps and their effect on the supply. While working for a Peters burg cannery he said that they used to violate the law repeatedly in or der to get the seasons pack. He said that traps and seines had fished out the Taku from Icy Straits until hardly any more reds could be taken in that stream. In 1901 he went to Nushaghak. Here the traps worked all the time-twenty-four hours out of each day He told of thousands of fish that had been caught and thrown away. The beach was strewn with them and created such a stench that one could not walk along it. The I Stikine, he said, was the only stream that seemed to hold it's own.
 Captain George A. Howe came tc Alaska in 1886 and had flshed nearly every where that salmon were known to exist in Alaska waters. He was nt Nnshaahak in 1900 and said that