The Wrangell sentinel. (Wrangell, Alaska) 1909-current, 1933-03-10


needs of conservation of the fish
cries.
LAS to your advocacy that fish
ing for humpback salmon be per-
mitted to continue in Southeastern
Alaska until September 1. should
say that in most sections of this
part of Alaska such action would
seriously endanger the future of the
pink salmon fishery. Counting wiers
have been operated at several typ
ical salmon streams in Southeastern
Alaska for a number of years past
and valuable information has been
secured in regard to the time and
duration of the runs of salmon.
Runs Vary
1T has been shown that the runs
to certain spawning grounds in the
vicinity of Wrangell are early.
reaching those streams in July, and
the entire run is over before the
first of September. In the streams
on the northeast and west coasts
of Prince of Wales Island the runs
of humpback salmon. which must
pass through an intensive fishery.
do not reach the spawning streams
much before the end of the present
commercial fishing season. There
fore, if the season were extended
to September l, the escapement in
such waters would be inadequate.
II might draw a comparison be-
tween the salmon regulations of
southeastern Alaska and the regula-
tions which are effective for the
protection of the north Pacific halt
but fishery. 1t is difficult for any
one to make a living wage under
present economic conditions in the
halibut industry. No one has said,
however, that the regulations are
wrong and should be relaxed so as
to permit more intensive fishing,
On the contrary, it is recognized
that the poor financial returns in
the halibut fishery are not due to
the regulations bue because of eco
nomic conditions and the lack of q
profitable market for the catch.
The same principle can be applied
to the salmon fishery of Southeast
ern Alaska.
Open to Suggestions
Again please permit me to re-
mind you that l am open to any
further suggestions which you or any
one else may care to make with re-
gard to the fishery regulations of
Southeastern Alaska. In the fore
going l have mentioned several
points upon which I shall be es-
pecially glad to have your specific
views. think you will realize that
l do not want to undertake a num-
Der of things outlined in the fore
going, because l feel that such ac-
ton in the long run would not be
of benefit to the fisheries of Alas
ka. For example, l do not want to
increase the size of seines or of
seine boats, as it would mean the
influx of outsiders. 1t seems to me
that this would be bad policy from
a conservation standpoint and
am certain that it would not work
advantageously to the local people
of Alaska"
Hickman Replies
= In his reply to Mr.. O'Malley, Mr..
Hickman said that he had marked
the chart referred to in the fore
going article and returned 1t to
Washington. He continued:
"The most important point I
want to make is this, during 1882
there were 100000 cases of pinks
packed in Southeastern Alaska,
which would be about 100000
fish. AS far as conservation and
your duty are concerned, it would
have made no difference had all
these 22,000,000 fish been caught
by seines in bays and inlets, and I
will go further than that, and say
at the mouths of streams. You