The Daily Alaska empire., 1939-04-24
LEG. CHAIRMAN FEARS TROUBLE
 IN BRISTOL BAY sN s.a er
Allen Urges that America Extend Jurisdiction
 Over Fishery

Fishery difficulties in Bristol Bay are nearing crisis and prompt ac- tion by Washington is necessary to preserve peace in the Pacific. Ed ward w. Allen, Chairman of the In- ternational Fisheries Commission, declared in an address before the Commonwealth Club of California at San Francisco recently.
 Allen, who is also United States member of the International Pac- fife Salmon Fisheries Commission, said the Bristol Bay problem is one involving the interests of the whole Nation and the welfare of many nations for generations to come.
 He spoke strongly in favor of form of United States control of the Bristol Bay fishery such as is embodied in bill introduced in Congress last January by Alaska Delegate Anthony J. Dimond, which was designed to protect and pre- serve the salmon fishery of Alaska and to prevent the depletion thereof by illicit fishing of foreign nationals.
 Aliens address was as follows:
 Testing Ground
 Bristol Bay is today the testing ground for two conflicting principles of world importance: conservation and exploitation as applied to ocean fisheries. By conservation in this connection we do not mean bott- ling up. We mean making as great a use of this food resource as is con- sistent with the continued main- tenance of the supply. By exploi-. tation we mean catching all the fish possible by any means possible without regard to the future. Can- ada and the United States in their management of their fisheries in the Pacific are today the opponents of conservation; Japan of unenlight- ened exploitation. Shall the great fishery supply be maintained pro- ductive for all time, or shall it be commercially destroyed by a few years of ruthless unrestricted fish ing? That is the issue.
 Using few round numbers. let me impress upon you something of the importance of this fishing in- 'dustry. During. twenty-one days of fishing in this bay alone from .250.- 900 to 1,500,000 cases of salmon are packed, worth in a good year. for choice red salmon $10 per case. It is estimated that the coastal fisheries employ more than 75000 men dir ectly, but besides tens of thousands more employed in shipyards. can factories, supply huoses, and even banks, by reason of this great in- dustry. And the value of the annual production is said to approximate S100,000,000. But more important even than these figures is the prin- ciple of the Lvrpetual maintenance of cheap, wholesome and pala- table food supply
 Clash Imminent
 Unfortunately some of our friends upon the Atlantic seaboard have the idea that we. of the Pacific Coast are seeking to involve the United States in war with Japan. Let me say right here, therefore, that our object is just the opposite. Our fish ermen may be good fellows but they are tough individuals. They are not likely to sit and twiddle their thumbs on the shore and watch their source of livelihood destroyed by any out siders. There is genuine danger of clashes and actual bloodshed if the Japanese should again come over Such conflicts have occurred between the Japanese and Russians and would undoubtedly have led to war had 1t not been that because of European complications or other reasons neither nation was ready to risk the ordeal of battle. We believe that the way to prevent war is to investigate the situation, face the facts, and take steps while there is still time to solve the problem be- fore some unfortunate incident mak- es it acute.
 Extending out from the shore from California to Boring Sea is a strip of comparatively shallow wat or Varvjro ii, xui<Itl, froy,, o fax, miles