Evening star., 1942-05-24
BY WILLIAM GILMAN.
enecial DISPATCH to The Star.

ABOARD SHIP OFF THE AL
ASKAN COAST, (By Air MaiD.-
The Japs are fish eaters, and we
Americans eat much more of the |
seas produce than we sometimes
realize. And that's why battle
between rival fishing fleets of the
two countries off the Alaskan coast |
is possible this summer.
Well be the victors, If it turns out
the way it did in 1888, when stout
Alaskan fishermen, with rifles in
their boats, announced that Bristol
Bays famous red salmon were
"American citizens" and Jap
poachers had to get out.
The salmon run is always packed
with action. This prize food f1sh
represents Alaska's chief export.
In one delirious month, between
June 20 and July 20, the-feds and
pinks are caught, cleaned and
canned.
Many to Be on Guard.
It will be the same this year. The
fishermen don't intend to 60 out OF
business Just because the Pacific is
no longer Pacific. And our Gov
ernment, aware how important SAL
mon is to the national larder, will
be protecting them with the Navy
and Coast Guard.
1t looks like a good salmon year,
according to old-timers. Leaplng,
30-pound king salmon can be seen
swimming alongside of this ship as
1t prowls from one Alaskan port to
another.
They're finishing their long trek
home, looking for signposts and as
much a mystery to science as ever.
How does the salmon know where
he was born? But he always does.
He's Matched in fresh-water
streams and lakes. A couple OF
years later, when he's several inches
long, he follows the streams down
in a migration to open sea. A few
wears later, when he's fully grown,
some instinct tells him to go home.
He goes right back up the same
river and same creek to the same
lake where he was born-there to
spawn and die.
It's during this spawning migra-
ton that the salmon are caught Tor
food-often in huge traps outside
the mouths of rivers. Preparations
for the salmon harvest are already
under way, but with difference due
to war conditions. This ship Is
bringing up the advance guard of
canning company of1icials and crew
members. They're being dropped
along the way at seacoast towns
and sometimes at inlets where the
town" Is nothing more than a can
merry.
Trouble Due at Any Time.
But the days are getting longer
and weather conditions are improv-
ing. Japanese trouble is due any
time in this war area. Along with
the usual boat drills. the ship also
has gun practice by its armed guard.
The very life Of Alaska depends on
salmon More than 1000 900 cases
48 ne-pound cans to the case are
filled annually. The catch is worth
around s5OO00,0OO. That happens
to be half of Alaska's total ex-
ports-more than gold and furs
combined. It also represents seven
times what we paid Russia for
Alaska.
Alaskas coasts are dotted with
the canneries, big and little. The
great packing companies own their
own ocean-going vessels which,
each summer, bring up thousands
of fishermen from the United States
and serve as floating hotels during
the salmon run. Now most OF these
ships have been taken over by the
Government for war use.
Despite this. and the fact that
fishing won't be allowed in waters
where protecting war vessels won't
be close by, the catch this year is
expected to be around four -fifths
normal. AS in pre-war days, it will
be a boom month. with the can
neries supplying boats. nets and
credit to anybody who wants to fish.
"Anybody'' includes men. women
and children-teachers, preachers
and clerks. 1t also includes the bulk
Of Alaska's Indians. who rely mainly
on salmon for food and funds.
Alaska Is jap Conscious.
All this has made Alaska jap
conscious, because it's only a few
hundred miles from Japan to Alas
kan waters. Our policy has been
one of conservation-regulations al
lowing enough salmon to escape, so
they won't be exterminated.
After years of American COM
plants against japanese slaughter
ing methods, Toxic agreed in 1885
to suspend commercial fishing in
the Bristol Bay area, where the
precious red salmon is caught.
But two years later. Alaskans in
that region got almost no salmon,
and the few they did catch had
been marked by nets. It turned
out that Japanese floating canneries
had been anchoring outside the
three-mile limit and using nets over
a mile long and reaching from the
bottom OF the sea to the surface.
On top of this came reports that
the Japs were camping on shore,
shooting reindeer and feeding
whisky to the inhabitants of the
Aleutian Islands. Further investi-
CATION showed the Japs were fish
ing in season and out. And of
course they were also charting our
strategic waters for hostile pur-
poses
With aerial photographs and affi-
davits, our fishing interests de-
manded that Japan live up to its
agreement. The Japs retorted that |
Bristol Bay wasn't closed sea and |
said they were justified in fishing
outside the 3-mile limit. A Jap
scientist remarked to an American