The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-09-06


released out of the Bureau Of Fish
cries OF Hoover's Commerce Depart
nient following Hoover's speech be-
fore the United States Fisheries
Association.
A romance of Governmental activ-
ity Is revealed on behalf of saving
salmon for the breakfast tables of
Our Observation-Disclosures.
1t seems to be agreed that with
out that activity numerous sorts of
fishes would soon disappear entirely
from the diet of the American PEG.
pie.
Hoover Is a Fisherman.
Hoover is a fisherman, and. as
one OF the browning achievements
or his life, he seems to have set
himself the task of seeing to it that
there shall be billions of fishes for
other fishermen to catch when he
has passed away.
Within a few months after the
recent passage Of the new Alaskan
fisheries law by Congress he
seems to have covered most of the
salmon fishing waters of Alaska
with regulations establishing areas"
within each of which there are
numerous varying limitations upon
what fishermen may do in inducing
salmon to be caught and to be
canned.
These limitations seem to have
two grand prospective results. One
il to transform salmon fishing slight
ly, from being a mere slaughter
into being a little more Of a sport.
The other Is to save enough salmon
to perpetuate the race Of salmon
in the world. That these two things
have to be accomplished on the far
wild reaches Of the Alaskan coast
by bureaucrats sitting at desks
in Washington is one Of the queer
est quirks Of duty placed upon the
Federal Government by modern cir
cumstances.
Bill Forced Through.
Mr.. Hoover virtually forced the
passage of the Alaskan fisheries
law by going ahead and conserv-
ing the salmon of Alaska through
regulations without any absolute
Congressional sanction behind them.
These regulations Infatuated certain
people, among whom conspicuously
was the Alaskan Delegate in Con.
gress, Dan Sutherland.
Numerous Secretaries of Com.
merce preceding Mr.. Hoover had
carefully abstained from saving sal
mon and sowing sorrow for them.
selves in Alaska. Mr.. Hoover, be-
Ing fisherman and an incurable
conservationist and saver, went
ahead and saved Alaskan salmon
by regulations which produced first
infuriation and then a general law
on the subject
Under that law now Mr.. Hoover
reaches into any bay or gulf or
| inlet or estuary in Alaska and
regulates the performances of fish.
ermen who endeavor to intercept
the travelling salmon as he travels
from the deep sea up into the
! river where he and the females of
his tribe have the home where the
tribe Is reproduced and continued.
Gamers Restricted
No salmon Gamer in Alaska now
may fish in any salmon river. He
must fish outside that river in the
sea. With his fishing he must not
come within five hundred yards Of
the mouth Of the river.
He further is subjected to numer.
Gus other limitations, some of which
are in the law and some of which
are imposed by the Department of
Commerce.
There is, for instance, in Alaska
an AREA" called the Bristol Bay
AREA" 1t lies beyond the extreme
southwestern remote tip Of Alaska.
Within that area" so remote, SO
wild, so slenderly inhabited, the
I Federal Government from Wash.
ington establishes and enforces the
following salmon traffic rules:
Salmon Traffic Rules.
No salmon fishing may be done
| at all except between midnight of
June rs and midnight Of July 25.
Even within that period no salmon
fishing may be done between 6
O'Clock Saturday evening and 6
o'clock Monday morning.
This establishes weekend parties
Tor salmon during which they can
get up into their rivers and estab.
llsh their homes without being ex.
posed to any chance of interception
and capture at all.
Further:
No fishermen, aspiring to catch
a salmon, must use a trap" or a
''purse'seine" or a ''beach-seine."
He must use only "gill-nets."
He must use only nets which
catch a fish by its gills.
Further:
These "gill.nets" in the Bristol
Bay area" when they are used
for catching red-or "sockeye"-
salmon, must not be more than
two hundred fathoms long and
must have meshes at least five and
-three-quarters inches from knot to
lSnct.
Gets Sporting Chance.
BY such limitations the salmon
gets some sort of sporting chance
to make a getaway from the
fisherman and to go to housekeep.
ing in his ancestral river home.
1t Is believed that the salmon
which originated in a certain river
always try to return to that very
river for their spawning and breed.
Ing season, and will never go to
any other river.
Therefore II the waters in front
of any given river get fished out,
they are fished out for good and
forever and cannot be replenished
by salmon from any adjacent river.
Every river has to be individually
protected and conserved.
Henry O'Malley, Commissioner Of
the Bureau of Fisheries under Mr..
Hoover, is now in Alaska cjnsid.
ering each river and telegraphing
back to Washington for the prom ul-
cation Of new salmon rulings.
The salmon must be saved. Thorn.
as jefferson probably would have
died sooner IL he had thought of