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

in the number of canneries to be
operated will further lessen the
opportunities for seiners to dispose
of their catches. This is not a bright
outlook, and l hope that conditions
will be better.
81 note that you advocate the
opening of bays and estuaries, now
closed, so that purse seiners can
have a better opportunity to make
catches. AS bearing upon this, l
want to remind you that various
bays and estuaries were closed as a
result of recommendations by the
advisory committee, of which you
were a member, appointed by the
secretary of commerce in 1924. You
were not present at the meeting
but you raised no objections to the
proposed action. AS a matter of fact,
the regulations contained a number
of things which you advocated at
that time.
al am wondering whether you
haze personally Investigated the
number of small bays actually
closed by departmental regulations
as they now stand in the Keteh-
ikan district with which you are
very familiar"
Then Mr.. O'Malley tells of send
ing a chart to Mr. Hickman show
ling the areas closed to various
forms of fishing. Mr.. O'Malley ask
ed that the suggestion for opening
bays and estuaries be marked on
the same chart and returned, as
Specific recommendation.
Dead When Caught
81 agree with you that when
salmon are caught they are dead,
regardless of whether caught in
open waters or at the heads of bays
near the creeks; but in view of
the we'll known habit of salmon to
| linger in the salt water before
ascending the streams to spawn,
any catches made near the heads
of bays and adjacent to stream
mouths would mean a much poorer
quality of fish due to their quick
deterioration under the influence
of fresh water
| Salmon caught in such waters
would lessen the value of any
packers output. Even though there
might be comparatively few of
these poorer fish, they could be-
come so distributed through the
pack as to result in seizure of the
entire output as below the standard
required by the McNary- Mapes
law. Under the terms of that act
the government authorities give
canned salmon, as we'll as other
| canned products, much more close
scrutiny than was formerly the
| case.
I'm the regulations now effective,
}! as compared with those of last year,
we have eliminated approximately
Is traps, about SO of which are in
Southeastern Alaska. l shall be glad
to have further definite suggestions
from you along the line of elimin-
ating traps in this part of the
Territory.
Local Labor Encouraged
GAS you know, we have elimin-
ated traps from bays but seiners
still have the opportunity of going
into such waters for their catches,
except at the heads of bays where
all fishing is prohibited. The reg
ulations have been made with the
general idea of keeping seines q
mile or more from the mouths of
salmon streams There might be
some easing of this policy IL we had
money available to increase our
force of stream guards.
I'VE have done everything pos
sible to encourage the employment
of local labor in canneries in Alas
ka so that residents of the Territory
may be benefited thereby. I feel
confident that each year will see
the employment of more and more
help in proportion to the extent of
fishing operations. In long exper-
fence in Southeastern Alaska 1
know that you have seen much i'm
provement in this line.
81 want to do all that l can to