The Cordova daily times., 1920-09-27
POLES CAPTURE CR0DN0 AFTER BIG FIGHT
ED| I T0RIAL
DRASTIC ACTION NECESSARY


 by the bureau of fisheries on October 5th next is matter of vital import ance to the future prosperity and growth of Cordova. Those of us who lived in Cordova six or seven years ago, know that large part of the prosperity that our city has enjoyed of late years has been due to the salmon industry. In 1919 there was but one fish cannery in Cordova. This year there were three canneries within the incorporated limits of the town, four others within a few miles of it, and still two others near enough to be con- sidered in this district These canner- les increased the population of this ~ district during the summer season by several hundred wage earners. These seasonal workers were COrdovans for eight months of the year. They trad ed with our stores, went to our amuse- ment houses, belonged to our clubs and societies, and in innumerable ways be-
 
 community.
 Because of this accession of canner- ies, Cordova has become the most i'm portant fish center in southwestern Alaska. The 1odestone that drew capi- tai into the fish business here was the red fish of the Copper, Eyak, and f is the added inducement of silver sal mon and abundant pink fish to make up slack years of red fish. However, it is indisputable that it was the red and king salmon that brought the can Aeries here. The red salmon is the royalty of the finny tribe. It brings 7 the largest price in the can, and the greatest profits made from it. A good pack of red fish, means the cost of the cannery earned in one year. and lot left over for sweetening the pot We in COrdova welcomed the canneries 1t is true we were here before they came, and it is equally true we will be here after they are gone, which won't be long, if present conditions are not changed in the fishing game
 We still welcome\ the canneries. 1 Their prosperity means our prosperity We want them, but we want them as a permanent industry not as exem- plars of a certain fable which tells of the folly of killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
 The present salmon market proves that all other kinds of salmon but the sockeye or red are drug on the mar S6es, and securing a reasonable profit, the Alaska canneries are this year throwing their pack into a pool to be sold pro rata according to the size of the various packs. The red fish find a ready sale and a booming market. Therefore it is necessary to preserve the red fsih of the Copper Eyak, and Boring rivers, if the salmon industry of Cordova is not to follow the way of the sea otter, the manatee, and the Sacramento river salmon stream.
 The only way this supply of red sal mon can be preserved is to limit the fishing as much as possible under the present regulations, and then apply to congress with request to pass such additional laws as are needed to meet tnls emergency. Every red salmon stream in southwestern Alaska with \ the exception of the Copper river and '1the Ugashik river is protected against stream fishing. Tn the Ugashik and Copper rivers, there are canner1es operating in the rivers themselves. The result is that the two rivers which need the most protection get the least. By what circumlocution of logic the bureau of fisheries has de- ! cided that the Copper and Ugashlk rivers should not be protected, WDen the facts show that they are being strenuously fished, and need protection most, is beyond the ken of ordinary minds, concerned only with the good of the industry.
 The fishermen on the Copper river flats catch many red fish which go up the Eyak river. They eaten mahy more which go up the Copper river Fishing is prohibited in the Eyak rlVer and within 15OO feet of the mouth. risbing is allowed in the Copper river 4s to 52 miles up the stream from the - mouth, and within 15oo feet Of the : (Continued on Page Four)