Evening star., 1924-05-04
u. s. Commissioner of Fisheries
Pleads for Guarding of Salmon
Declares Depletion of Alaskan, Stocks
Certain, Unless U. S. Restricts Catch.
Cites Fishes Peculiar Habits.

comprehensive and authorita-
tive statement has just been made by
Henry O'Malley, United States COM
missioner of fisheries. on the salmon
fishing situation in Alaska, concern
ing which critics of the Department
of Commerce have been making charges,
and which has called forth statements
in regard to pending legislation affect
ing the great controversy of 'conserva-
ton against canning not only from
Secretary Hoover, but from President
Coolidge himself.
That in the only great salmon fish
ing grounds remaining on this conti-
nent. those in Alaska, can be seen to-
day precisely the same process which
has eliminated the salmon elsewhere
that the Department of Commerce
utilizes to the utmost the authority.
Partially temporaryNit now enjoys in
regulation of the matter; and that
the bill intended to remedy the situa-
tion by giving that department fur
ther powers is distinctly emergency
legislation and should be passed re-
gardleSS of whether it be ideal legiS-
lation or not, are points emphasized
That no commissioner of fisheries.
and probably no other person in the
country, could be more competent to
judge the situation and the merits
cf the different opinions in regard
thereto. is admitted by those famili3 r
with Mr. O'Malley's record. Before
he was called to the commissioner
ship he spent Years on the Pacific
coast famiiarizing himself with both
the natural and the commercial
aspects of the myriads of salmon
which ascend the rivers emptying
into the western ocean.
Ccmmissioner's Statement.
His statement is as follows:
The depletion of the salmon fish
cries in Alaska is but one step in
the long history of the destruction of
these fish. Salmon Were once COM
mon on the Atlantic coast, frequent
ing all of the rivers as far south as
the Hudson. Today they have dis
appeared almost entirely. only a
small run now surviving in the
PenobScot and one or two other
streams in Maine and in some of the
same destruction on the Pacific coast
where salmon once abounded in all
of the bays and rivers. The Cali
fornia waters have been denuded of
these fish. In the Columbia River
and in Puget Sound they are rapidly
ing grounds remaining today are in
the waters of Alaska. and here We
see in progress precisely the same
process which has annihilated them
in other regions.
THE reason for the destruction Of
the salmon. while we see most other
sea fisheries continuing in spite Of
intensive catchingS year after year,
lies in the peculiar ha bit of these
fish. Unlike other species. the sal
itrll q RI
coast salmon. returns invariably to
the stream in which it was spawned.
Leaving that stream short period
after IFS birth, the salmon swimS
to spend several years. but finally
to return to the place of its birth
to spawn and to die. The converg-
ing of the school of salmon as ii
comes from the wide waters of the
ocean 10 the narrow mouth of the
runity for taking it. When the fish
resorting to a given stream have
once been destroyed, that supply can
never be repleniShed by natural
means, for no other salmon will come
to it.
Great Damage Done.
In the early history of the indus
try the fishing was carried on. for the
most part. either in the streams them
selves or at their entrances. where
the salmon were found in these large
compact schools. This manifestly
presents a situation where the inter
vention of the law was necessary if
the salmon were to be preserved from
extinction. Recognizing this situa-
tion. in 1906 the Congress of the
United States passed an act author
izing the Secretary of Commerce to
prohibit the taking of these fish with
in any Alaskan rivers or stl aams and
within a distance of 500 y,trds from
their mouths. This authority has
been fully exercised b" the Secretary
of Commerce, and in recent years all
fishing within the stream ms and within
500 yards from their mouths has been
absolutely prohibited, with one or
two unesSential exceptions.
when the 1906 law was passed, it
was considered to be adequate to deal
with the situation. But since that
time fishing operations have bee