The Alaska daily empire., 1920-07-29
FISHERY BUREAU CHIEF URGES
 EARLY ACTION TO SAVE SALMON
 FROM THREATENED EXTINCTION

concern here, however, than else where in Alaska.
 "In Western Alaska the season of 1919 was markedly failure; the pack of canned salmon was the smallest since 1900. On the bas!s that the salmon of 1919 were four year fish. a comparison with the catch of 1915 shows drop of 4S per cent; if they were five-year fish, the comparison with the catch of 1914 shows decline of 5S per cent These percentages would have been higher were it not that the pack in 1919 included 57,0S5 cases of Yukon River salmon. whereas the packs of 1914 and 1915 did not include any Yukon salmon.
 overfishing couse
 'The cause Of this sudden and serious falling off in the salmon runs of Western Alaska and espec- ially Bristol Bay is not known. ubt in the absence of a better reason it may be attributed to everlasting in recent years. Apparently it avs not question of delayed runs, but seems to have been due to real scarcity of salmon Some persons have held that the exhaustion of the salmon fisheries is practically impossible, but to those taking 2 broad view of the situation, this breakdown of the run of red salmon is acceptable evidence of the falllcy of any theory that the runs are im- pregnable.
 "The records of the Bristol Bay district for the last twenty years show that the drain on the red sal mon run has been steadily increas- ing, largest numbers of salmon being taken, with few exceptions, in the successive seasons. The pack in- increased from 600000 cases in 19G0 to 1.666000 in 1918. It then dropped to 589,4 cases in 1919. a decrease of over GA per cent. Attention has been directed in the past to these constantly increasing catches and the encroachment they meant upon the number of salmon necessary for the maintenance of the runs and the corresponding reduction of the safety quota. It may be that tho packers who seem to be dovoting all their enegries to increasing produc- tion, viewed the situation too opti- mistically during the plenteous years, and that facts of vital importance were overlooked until the sudden break in 1919 from superficially sat isfactory conditions. At a hearing held at Seattle in November, 1919, various salmon packers, however, agreed to the necessity of further limitation by departmental regula- tions upon fishing.
 Operations On Yukon
 Operations on the Yukon River were greater than in 1918. as a pack of approximately 57,000 cases of king and chum salmon was made by the one company established there. In addition a few hundred barrels of salmon were pickled. Approximately 500,0O0 salmon were used in the pre-
  mercial fishing was carried on below the junction of the Clear River and the Yukon, according to the re- ports of operators, about two thirds of the catch of salmon was made in Boring Sea off the mouth of the Yukon.
 "In this connection, public atten tion has recently been focused up jn the salmon fisheries of the Yukon by somewhat emotional rather than practical campaign of ecclesiastical inception. the purpose of which mas been the absolute prohibition of the commercial use of salmon to the end that the local inhabitants might be supplied. For humanitarian reasons our sympathies are naturally aroused to safeguarding the interests of abor- iginal peoples, but there is no ade- Quate evidence to date to disturb the conviction, after careful and impar- tial consideration that there ara 9uf- ficient salmon in Yukon waters to supply at least a modest commercial fishery and at the same time fully provide in perpetuity for local needs.
 Grounds For Alarm
 "Considering Alaska as a whole, there are undoubtedly grounds for apprehension that the salmon fishery