The Daily Alaska empire., 1939-04-24

re over nationwide radlo nook-ups as a hundred miles in the Gulf of Alaska. fishermen refer to this com paratively shallow region as f'the banks The entire stretch is also called the continental shelf Geo. graphically, it is just a narrow fringe of the continent slightly submerged but entirely distinct from the great ocean abyss beyond. One hundred miles may sound like quite dis tance, but it is almost nothing in comparison with the width of the Pacific Ocean.
 ''Now in the ocean we find myriads of tiny animal and vegetable particl- es drifting about which collectively are known as plankton And the greatest wealth of plankton in the North Pacific is found over the con- tinental shelf. Plankton is the food for the small fish which are fed up- on by larger fish which in turn are eaten by still larger fish, so where you find an accumulation of plank ton you will find an abundance of fish. That is why the continental shelf contains such magnificent wealth of food fish.
 Richest Salmon District
 Across on the Asiatic side of the northern part of the Pacific there is comparatively little continental shelf, so although there is a subs tantial fishery there it does not compare with the salmon and hali- but fishery of the American side. Sixty percent of the salmon of the world are found in Alaskan waters. Bristol Bay is the single richest dis trict. Now the salmon is a very sys- tematic but peculiar fish. IL spawns in fresh water, goes to sea in it's first or second year, returns to the very stream of it's birth in from it's se- cond to sixth year, spawns and dies. It is in its finest condition for food just as it is about to re-enter fresh water. It is not definitely known where the salmon spends it's time at sea, but as that is it's growing period it is probably over the con- tinental shelf where there is plenty of food
 Tn America salmon are caught for canning in connection with plants stationed close to shore, and the fishing is subject to rigid res trictions to make sure that there is enough escapement of fish to the spawning beds to maintain the sup ply. On the Asiatic side the Japanese developed the use of large floating canneries, often called mother ships, which operated off the Siberian shores without any land contact and in complete disregard of any conservation methods the Russians might wish to impose The Japanese government was not much interest," ed in conservation, but these floaters intercepted so many fish before they got ashore that they threatened ruin to the great Japanese corporation which had monopoly upon the Japanese cannery concessions on the Russian shores. So the government did step in and forced many of these floaters. out of the Siberian fishery. This may be one reason for some of them showing up on the American. side. What is more nat ural than that they should be sent to Bristol Bay, the richest red sal- mon district in the world?
 Three-Mile Rule Invalid
 Have they a right to come? Some say yes, that although the present existence of these fisheries is due to Canadian and United States ex- pendltures and the restrictions inn posed on our fishermen and operat- ors, nevertheless our right to pro- tect the suppy which we have built up ends three miles from shore. Some of us believe that these two countries having engaged in these fisheries exclusively from the com mencement of their commercial de- velopment and having saved and built them up, as well as because the continental shelf is really just a partll Of the continent, and because sal- mon in particular are actually rearedII m national streams and lakes. have special rights in these fisheries whichjl the nationals of other countries must respect. We believe that the so- call. ed three mile rule. that nation owns stretch of water off it's coast, only three miles wide and has no special rights beyond that distance. is neither absolute nor well founded but anyway has no application to the conditions that prevail in the North Pacific fisheries regardless of its application elsewhere.
 Let us consider the haIibut. They are found on the continental shelf from northern California to Boring Sea. Years ago the supply becamei badly depleted by everlasting. Butt Canada and the United States had