Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1915-06-15
The Easy Mop Cleaner. Saves Labor
and Time. call on
Mr. ;. A. d. Barr, Agent
April lS-tf
Children Cry
FOR FLETchER'S
G a 8 = . q / q
BEARS KILL SALMON
Alaskan Bruin Stays Them for
Food and Sport.
Can Eat 500 Pounds at One Meal
GuIls and Terms Also Among
Causes for Waning Fish Sup
ply In Northern Rivers.

Bears that fish In shallow water and
gulls and terms that pluck out the eyes
of their prey are destroying millions
of Alaskan salmon. according to K.
Lester Jones. deputy commissioner of
the bureau of fisheries, who was sent
to Alaska last summer to investigate
the causes of the waning salmon sup
ply. The bears, he says, are the worst
offenders, because they haunt the
shores of streams during the spawn
ing season, and, besides killing huge
quantities for food, STAY many thou
sands of others just for the pure JOY
Of the sport.
The commissioner in his report tells
how at Black Bear creek in the Cleve-
land peninsula he found the shores for
$50 feet on both sides Uttered with
hundreds upon hundreds of humpback
silver and chum salmon that had been
tossed out of the water by bears.
Hardly any of the fish had been mu-
tilated except by the marks Of the
bears claws on their backs All that
was eaten was. the cheek" of the sal
mon, the bear, according to Commits.
sioner Jones, being very fastidious and
preferring that part to any other.
AS the bears in Alaska are the larg-
est in the world and are noted for
their ravenous appetites, it is easy to
realize how much damage they can do.
On Kodiak island. where the full
grown bear weighs three-quarters of
q ton, the deputy commissioner
learned from a native that one of
these giants could eat third Of his
own weight In salmon in single day.
"As in other parts OF the territory"
Mr.. Jones remarks, this bear also
throws considerable numbers of fish
out of the water, many Of which II
may never care to touch for food"
While wolves and even eagles are
also doing much harm, Mr.. Jones
found that still greater destruction
was caused by gulls and terms. De-
scribing his visit to Sierra creek on
rainy day at low tide, he says:
my attention was first attracted by
a movement of birds in the water and
along the banks. AS drew nearer
saw thousands of salmon fighting their
way up the shallow stream, and
among these fish were the gulls, pick.
ing out first one eye and then the
other. / flushed this enormous horde
of gulls, which ! believe numbered at
least 10000. Going closer to the
.fxoor. f0urd hu,,phoalr aa1xoou
Topping everywhere. with their eyes
gone and otherwise mutilated from
the picking and clawing of these
birds | estimated that on this creek
alone there were within sight 5000
fish either dead or dying that had
never spawned"
To remedy this condition Mr.. Jones
makes several novel suggestions. The
ease with which the bears and gulls
prey upon salmon, he says, Is due in
large measure to the number of OBJ
structions in streams which they fire..
quent in the spawning season. Be.
sides the falls and other natural bar
riers, some of the rivers have not
been kept clear of timber and other
distractions, and are consequently
providing ideal fishing grounds for the
natural enemies of the salmon. Whole
schools are halted on their way up
stream by these Instructions, with the
result that the fish fall back exhaust
ed into shallow water, only to be
preyed upon by bears and gulls.
The commissioner mentions mum.
Der of streams where this is especially
true, and urges that the government
appropriate sufficient money to have
the worst distractions removed. The
falls in many places, he says, could cas-
lily be blasted to give the salmon free
passage. In other places. where dyna-
mite is impracticabIe, the construction
of Fish ladders" is recommended.
"The investment of few thousand
dollars on all of these streams" says
the commissioner, would mean q
great return in the future as the result
of opening up additional natural
spawning grounds as yet almost who'll
ly untouched"